


What Now

by multifanfics



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Badass Betty, Betty and Jughead NEVER dated, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, NOT a slowburn, Probably ooc, Serpent Betty, Serpent King Jughead, Unplanned Pregnancy, Veronica is a Good Friend, archie is clueless but he loves them all, background falice - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-10-09 02:11:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17398049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multifanfics/pseuds/multifanfics
Summary: It’s the last summer before college, and Betty Cooper can’t wait to leave Riverdale. However, something might hold her back. Something like Jughead Jones' child growing inside her stomach.





	1. Chapter 1

“How did you get her to ditch the jacket, Ronnie?” Archie asks, grinning at his girlfriend.

Betty rolls her eyes. “Ha, ha, Andrews.” She smiles a few moments later at him, though, and sighs a bit. “There was a lot of threatening, bribing, and hair pulling involved.”

“That’s a lie,” Veronica says. “You caved when I told you this is the only time we’ll ever go out to celebrate graduating high school. No bribes involved.”

Betty shrugs. “Potato, potahto.” This is the first time she walks into Veronica’s _La Bonne Nuit_ without her black leather jacket hanging on her shoulders, and she feels kind of naked without it. Scratch it, this is probably the first time she leaves the house without the Serpent jacket in a year. Archie looks like he’s about to say something to her, but he catches sight of something behind her and his eyes lighten up. He stands up and calls, “Jug!”

Betty rolls her eyes and puts her head in her hands for a few moments while Archie goes to fetch his best friend. Veronica sympathetically pats her arm. Betty straightens up and smooths down her dress, pushing her curls behind her shoulders.

“Have I mentioned you look super-hot?” Veronica tells Betty. “You look Cosmo-cover-worthy.”

“Thanks, V,” Betty says, just as Archie slides back into his seat. Jughead follows soon after, sitting right next to Betty.

“First time I see you without your jacket,” Jughead notes. Then he grins. “You look pretty in pink, Elizabeth.”

Betty eyes him. He’s dressed in a black button-down with black pants, and the usual knit crown-beanie on his thick black hair. “Wish I could say the same, but you look like you got dressed in the dark. As usual.”

Veronica sighs, expecting the argument between the two. It wouldn’t be the first time that Betty and Jughead begin screaming at each other because of a few snappy words, but for tonight, she isn't ready to sit and patiently wait for them to blow off the day's steam by fighting.

“B, come get a drink with me,” Veronica blurts out. She doesn’t even wait for Betty to answer, she just grabs her arm and drags her to the bar, where Reggie is manning for the time being.

“Hey girls,” he greets with his signature grin. “What can I get you?”

"The strongest thing you have,” Betty says, leaning her elbows on the bar. Reggie smirks knowingly.

“Coming right up.” He turns around to fix their drinks while Betty groans.

“Why does Archie have to be friends with that thing?” she whines, glaring over at where Archie and Jughead are roaring with laughter.

“You used to be friends with him, too,” Veronica reminds her, just as Reggie places two shot glasses in front of them with a clink. “Thank you, Reginald,” she says sweetly. Reggie glances at her with a smile before turning away.

“I think he still has a crush on you,” Betty hisses, careful to keep her voice low so that Reggie doesn’t hear. Veronica downs her shot in one gulp, wrinkling her nose at the taste and the burn. Betty follows her lead, though she does it with much more ease than Veronica, used to alcohol due to spending most of her time in the White Wyrm with Toni and Cheryl – the latter doesn’t know when to stop drinking, and her cousin and girlfriend usually get roped in as well.

“No he doesn’t,” Veronica insists. “He keeps telling me he’s over me.”

Betty rolls her eyes at the obliviousness of her best friend. “Of course he’ll tell you that when he sees you shoving your tongue down Archie’s throat every five seconds!”

Veronica sighs. "Betty, this is so not the time!" She glances over at Reggie and her expression softens. "I'm looking for a girl to set him up with, but nothing pops up. I can't find a girl who'd be able to handle Reggie's flair." 

Betty is about to answer when she feels the pressure of an arm around her shoulders. She turns her head to find Archie behind her, one arm around her shoulder and the other around Veronica's, his lips pressed to her neck. She's sure he meant to be friendly with both girls, but the sight of his girlfriend probably evoked something in him. His dick, maybe. Betty can't help but notice the way Reggie avoids looking in their direction, his strong jaw tensed as he mixes drinks.

Poor guy.

“Do they know when it’s time to stop fucking through their clothes in public?” a familiar voice says next to Betty, just as she pushes Archie’s arm off her shoulders.

“At least they won’t be getting some sort of STDs from too much sex,” Betty says. “You fuck a different girl every night, I’m surprised you haven’t gone through them all.”

“I have,” Jughead says smugly. “Except Cheryl because Toni would hang me from the ceiling rafters.” He leans a bit closer to Betty so that she can smell cigarettes, Maplewood, and a hint of his cologne. “Oh, and you.”

His breath is hot on her neck, his voice is low and rough and makes her want to drag him back to his trailer. However, all she does is push him back. “And you’re never going to have me, Forsythe,” she says dryly. “Reggie, can you just give me the entire bottle?”

Reggie looks at her with a raised eyebrow. “No, but I can give you a tray of twenty shots and you can stop bothering me.”

“Sounds perfect.” Betty’s smile widens. She waits for her drinks while eyeing Jughead discreetly. While he isn’t built like Archie, he does have his muscle, highlighted by the shirt he’s wearing, all due to his Serpent business, not to mention the hours he spends in front of a punching bag after a particularly rough day. Betty knows his hair is soft from the number of times she’s pulled it just to annoy him.

“Here you go, Cooper,” Reggie says, setting the promised tray of shots down in front of her. “Try not to pass out here, I don’t think Veronica would appreciate that.” Reggie is about to leave, but then he turns back for a few seconds. “You look good tonight.”

Betty smiles and is about to thank him before he turns around. She shrugs and grabs the first shot, throwing her head back and downing it. On one side of her, Archie and Veronica are still making out, now even more heavily than before. On the other, Jughead is pressed up next to her and reaches for a shot before she smacks his arm away.

“They’re mine,” Betty insists.

Jughead rolls his eyes. “If you think I’m letting you drink all of these by yourself, then you’re wrong.”

With one final glare, Betty huffs and grabs another drink. Jughead smirks to himself. “Come on, let’s go back to our table.”

He doesn’t wait for Betty to agree before carrying the tray and heading back to the table they were sitting at with Archie and Veronica. Betty rolls her eyes and follows after him, a pleasant buzz in her system that makes Jughead a bit less annoying and his body a lot more attractive.

 She sits down next to him and the two begin finishing shot after shot until all the glasses are empty and Jughead has a fire in his striking blue eyes, something that makes Betty’s toes curl in her heels.

“I want to go the Wyrm,” Betty whines. “They’re all looking at us so judgey because we’re drinking. What is alcohol even for if it’s not to be drunk? To sip on daintily like you’re having tea with the Queen?”

“I think the fuck not,” Jughead says, chuckling. He isn’t as drunk as Betty for mainly one reason, which is that she kept hogging the drinks until she had more than half of them.

“Juggie, can you take me to the Wyrm?” Betty asks, gripping on his arm with a pout.

Jughead rolls his eyes. “Don’t call me that. Let’s go.”

Jughead stops to tell Archie that they’re leaving before he drags Betty upstairs to Pop’s. He waits a few minutes for a bag of takeout to feed Betty (and himself) while she whines and whines that she wants to go home before he grabs the food and Betty’s wrist and drags her outside.

“Ew, I’m not getting on your bike,” Betty insists, stomping her foot.

Jughead swings his leg over his motorcycle and straddles it. “Elizabeth, either you grab the helmet and get behind me or I’m leaving you here.”

“Can I get _on_ you instead?” Betty mutters, reluctantly climbing behind Jughead. She pulls the helmet on over her head and leans her head on Jughead’s back, wrapping her arms around his waist. Just as he revs the engine, she untucks his shirt and slips a hand under it, brushing her cold hand over his warm chest.

Jughead inhales sharply, turning his head to look at Betty with a confused frown. He can’t see her face or her expression, so he just sighs and begins driving, not slowing down until he reaches Sunnyside trailer park, too aware of Betty’s hand on his skin.

“Why are we here?” Betty asks, removing the helmet to get off the bike and stare at Jughead with a glare. “I want to go home.”

“And have Alice catch sight of you like that?” Jughead scoffs. “I think not. She already hates me because she thinks I convinced you to join the Serpents.”

“I’m sure if she could feel your abs then she wouldn’t hate you anymore,” Betty says, winking at him.

Jughead sighs wearily. “That’s your mother, Elizabeth. You know what, just go inside.”

Betty stomps her foot again. “It’s Betty!”

“Fine, _Betty._ ”

It’s just like drunk Betty to go from happy to angry to horny all in three seconds. Toni told him stories of how Betty could be when she’s hammered, but Jughead’s never seen it with his own eyes before tonight.

Once they’re inside and the door is shut, Jughead lays out the burgers and fries from Pop’s on the kitchen table and forces Betty to eat some and drink a bottle of water.

“I’m fine, but can I just go to sleep?” Betty asks, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, the couch is yours,” Jughead replies, throwing away the trash.

“Excuse me?” Betty narrows her eyes.

“I’m not gonna give you my bed, I need a good night’s sleep,” Jughead insists.

“You’re such an asshole.”

“I know you’re rude and all that, but calling me an asshole in my own house after I generously spared you a drunk encounter with your mother isn’t how I want to be thanked,” Jughead says, turning around to face Betty.

“I’m not sleeping on the fucking _couch_ , Forsythe!”

“Deal with it, princess.”

Betty hadn’t realized they were getting closer to each other with each passing word until she finds herself hitting Jughead’s chest. “Fuck you, Forsythe Jones.”

“It’s Jughead, actually,” he snaps. “And you wish you could be fucking me.”

“As if –”

Betty’s sentence is cut short by Jughead’s lips smashing onto hers. It only takes her a nanosecond to begin kissing him back with the same ardor. She wraps her arms around his neck and pulls his beanie off, letting it fall to the floor, so that she can run her hands through his hair. He pulls her closer to his body until there isn’t a sliver of space between them.

Their tongues battle for dominance until Jughead slowly pulls back, Betty’s bottom lip between his teeth. He releases it with a soft plop, and Betty lets out a soft whine immediately at the loss of the feeling.

“We shouldn’t do this,” Jughead breathes heavily, leaning his forehead against Betty’s for a moment.

“Why not?” Betty demands, letting one of her hands slide from his hair to his chest to grip his shirt.

“Because, Betty,” Jughead says lowly, “if we don’t stop, then I’m going to want to fuck you until the only thing you remember is my name.”

Betty almost clenches her thighs together. A wicked grin spreads on her face. “Really?” She slowly begins unbuttoning Jughead’s shirt while he watches her with darkened eyes. “Good, because that’s _exactly_ what I want.” She pushes his shirt off and lets it fall on the floor. Her hand begins trailing to the waistband of his pants, but he grips her wrist, stopping her.

Jughead leans down to capture her lips with his again, even rougher than before. Betty’s hands travel back up to his hair, gripping it lightly. A small gasp leaves her lips when he hoists her up to wrap her legs around his waist, gripping her thighs to keep her from falling.

He pulls away to bury his head in her neck, biting and sucking at a spot that makes her moan and grip his hair tightly. “Don’t – don’t do that.”

Jughead ignores her. He only moves away when he’s done, eyeing the bruise he’s left her with. “I’ve always wondered what it felt like to do this to you.”

“I told you not to,” Betty snaps, tugging at his hair.

“It’s very, very satisfying,” Jughead reveals, grinning widely. He doesn’t let Betty say a word, kissing her again. He carries her to his room and dumps her on the bed, climbing over her to continue kissing her.

“This –” Betty’s words are cut off by a high-pitched moan as Jughead pushes a finger under her panties. “It’s a – a one-time thing.”

“Definitely,” Jughead agrees, moving back. He unzips Betty’s dress and slides it down her body, tossing it on the floor. Betty huffs impatiently and grabs the waistband of his pants, pulling him closer and pressing her lips to his again.


	2. Chapter 2

Betty is awoken because of the classic iPhone ringtone and the shift of her mattress. She frowns a little in her sleep, stretching her sore legs before curling up again, suddenly cold again. She pulls the covers to her skin, and that’s when her eyes snap open.

The first thing she registers is that this isn’t her room. Instead of the pale pink and white that cover her own room, courtesy of her mother, this one is in dark blue and black themes.

The second thing she notices is that she’s naked and sore. She lifts the covers to check, and it’s just like she suspected. Her muscles are killing her, especially those of her lower body.

The third thing, and probably the most important, is that Jughead Jones is standing in all his naked glory in front of her, his phone pressed to his ear.

Betty sits up, holding the covers to her chest, her eyes wide. Jughead gaze turns to her, but his expression doesn’t change. He’s talking to Sweet Pea on the phone, his voice gradually becoming less groggy and more alert, meaning that something bad must have happened.

Jughead ends the call a few minutes later and tosses his phone on the bedside table, running a hand through his hair.

“Can you put on some clothes?” Betty snaps, trying hard not to let her gaze avert downwards.

“This is my house, and I like being naked,” Jughead replies.

“Then why am I naked with you?” Betty demands.

Jughead stares at her with a deadpan expression. “Well, you were drunk and horny last night, and you begged me to just take your clothes off and have my way with you.”

Betty scoffs. “Shut up. I don’t remember much, but what I do remember is that you were so turned on by kissing me that you wanted to fuck me until the only thing I remember is your name."

“You did say my name quite a lot last night.” Jughead turns to his drawers, pulling out a pair of boxers. Betty lets out a mixed sigh of relief and disappointment, but she schools her features into a mask of indifference when Jughead turns back to her. “Sweet Pea called,” he says. “Duty calls.”

Betty wrinkles her nose. “I don’t have any clothes except last night’s dress.”

Jughead eyes the fabric on the floor. “Stay here, then.”

“Absolutely not,” Betty insists. The covers slip, and Jughead’s eyes immediately go to her chest. Betty’s cheeks redden and she pulls them back up. “Look, you know I’m a valuable asset. What happened anyway?”

Jughead is pulling on his black jeans when he answers her. “Penny Peabody’s back in town.”

“Then I have to go with you,” Betty says. “You know that you need anyone you can get when Penny’s involved, so just drive me home. I’ll sneak in, get changed in five minutes, then sneak right back out.”

* * *

Betty crawls in through the open window of her room as stealthily as a ninja, dressed Jughead’s clothes. Turns out he actually broke the zipper of her dress last night, and there’s no way in hell she’d be able to wear it, so he generously gave her some of his least favorite clothes after a lot of screaming, arguing, and threats.

Betty steps out of the clothes she’s wearing and leaves them in a heap on the floor. She steps into her attached shower, cleaning herself up in record time before slipping on underwear.

When she catches sight of herself in the mirror, she almost screams. Blue and purple bruises litter her skin, on her neck, her breasts, her stomach. When she looks down, Betty finds two or three between her legs.

“Fuck you, Forsythe,” she grumbles, pulling on a pair of black jeans. She has second thoughts to wear a damn turtleneck, but she decides against it. Hopefully, it’s too dark for any of the other Serpents to notice it.

Betty slips her jacket on before she heads out her window, climbing down to meet Jughead, who’s parked a street away.

“What took you so long?” he asks, at the same time as she demands, “What the fuck did you do to my body?”

Jughead looks confused for a moment until he sees the hickeys on Betty’s neck. He shrugs with a little smirk. “I marked you.”

“ _Marked_ me?” Betty echoes. “We said it’s a one time thing!”

“It is,” Jughead confirms. “You have half a second to get on behind me or I’m leaving you here.”

Betty huffs and climbs on the bike, putting the helmet on her head. Jughead waits for her to wrap her arms around his waist – loosely, compared to how tightly she was clinging to him only hours before – before he races down the street toward the Whyte Wyrm.

Once they get there, Jughead stops Betty from entering with a simple, “Wait.”

Betty turns to him, still pissed off at the marks on her skin. Jughead steps closer to her, making her hold her breath. He leans down a fraction, so close to her that Betty almost thinks he’s going to _kiss_ her, but all he does is move her messy hair around to hide the hickeys.

“Don’t want anyone knowing I willingly put my dick in you,” he says dryly, stepping back and then walking inside the Whyte Wyrm. Betty sighs in frustration, but she follows him inside.

The bar is empty at this hour – five in the morning – with only four people present. Cheryl, Toni, Fangs, and Sweet Pea, all dressed in black leather, Cheryl with her bow resting on a table next to her and Sweet Pea twirling his brass knuckles around in his hands.

“What’s going on?” Jughead asks.

Fangs hands him a note. Betty leans over his shoulder. “I want what’s rightfully mine,” she reads out loud. “Penny.”

“She also left us a nice little knife stabbed into a teddy bear,” Cheryl adds. “Wearing a grey crown beanie.”

“Where’s the bear?” Jughead asks. To his credit, Jughead doesn’t seem the least bit fazed, even though Penny’s probably implying that she wants payment for the time he cut off her tattoo.

Toni walks behind the bar and hands him the bear. “Toni, while you’re there, can you fix me a drink?” Sweet Pea asks.

“No, she can’t,” Jughead says, his eyes hardening. “Do you want to go out drunk?”

“We aren’t going nowhere,” Sweet Pea says. “It’s almost sunrise, and Penny might be stupid, but she’s not dumb enough to try something in broad daylight.”

Betty groans and rubs her face. “I wish I’d stayed home.”

“That’s the Northsider in you talking,” Jughead comments, not even looking at her.

Cheryl, however, is looking at her. Looking at a very specific part of her body. “Oh, my _God,_ Betty! Is that a hickey I see?”

Cheryl’s outburst catches the other four’s attention. Betty bites back a groan. “No. I fell.”

“On your neck,” Fangs adds. He ruffles Betty’s hair. “Our little B is growing up.”

“Stop acting like it’s the first time I’ve ever had sex,” Betty snaps.

“It’s the first time you let a guy give you a hickey,” Toni says, looking pleasantly confused.

“Alice Cooper is going to have a field day,” Sweet Pea realizes, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Is there any chance I can come home with you?”

“No.”

“Can we all come home with you?” Fangs asks. “I like your mom’s cooking.”

“Well, she doesn’t like you.”

“That’s a lie, she once said that Fangs is like a puppy,” Jughead reminds her.

Sweet Pea snorts. “Woof, woof.” He and Fangs engage in one of their fake brawls that ends up with both of them snorting in laughter, causing Jughead to shake his head.

“Look, can we forget about Betty’s sex life and her mother and focus on the matter at hand?” he demands.

Betty shrugs. “Hey, I’m all for letting her have you. One less problem for me to worry about.”

“That’s your king you’re speaking to.”

Betty pokes her tongue out at Jughead, making him snort.

“Real mature.”

Toni lets out a frustrated groan. “Stop, stop, stop. Both of you. Betty, Jughead will be out of your hair in less than four months when you go to NYU.”

Jughead coughs, sharing a look with the other two boys. “Yes, so you can stop getting angry at me, or else you’ll end up regretting it when you’re lying in bed and terribly missing me.”

Betty rolls her eyes. “What should we do about Penny?”

“Nothing.” Jughead chucks the note and the bear into the nearby trash bin, not before pulling out the knife and placing it on the bar. “Lay low. There’s going to come a day when she’ll snatch me and try to kill me.”

“What do we do then?” Cheryl asks.

“We let her kill him?” Betty suggests helpfully.

Jughead’s gaze slides to her. “The last time that happened, you cried at my bedside.”

“You were in a coma, so there’s no way for you to know that.”

“People in comas can hear, Elizabeth,” Jughead says. “For graduating top of the class, you sure aren’t so smart.”

Betty rolls her eyes. “Fuck off. What do we do if you get snatched?”

“I don’t know, let me think about it.” Jughead truly looks at a loss for a few seconds, before he looks up to the five eyeing him warily. “Cheryl, take Betty and Toni home.”

Cheryl stands up from the barstool and grabs her bow on the way. “You sure?”

“It’s dawn,” Jughead points out. “Go back to sleep.” He looks at Betty for a second, hesitating on telling her something, but he decides against it.

Once the girls have given their goodbyes and the sound of Cheryl’s car is long gone, Jughead turns to the boys.

“I couldn’t say this in front of them because I knew they would never agree to it.” Jughead rubs the back of his neck. Sweet Pea and Fangs are looking at him with confused gazes. “If Penny catches me, like last time, no one goes after me. You get back here, protect the rest of the Serpents. You cast a vote on who gets to be king between the two of you, and you face Penny head on.”

“You’re mental,” Sweet Pea says. “I always knew you had a few screws loose, but I never thought it would be this bad.”

“The only thing Penny cares about is me,” Jughead insists. “As long as I’m alive and breathing, then she’ll keep coming back.”

“There’s no need for heroic sacrifices, we all know how that went,” Fangs says.

Three days in a coma. Two broken ribs, a concussion, a broken arm, a sprained ankle, giving him almost a month in the hospital during junior year. Not to mention the anxiety everyone around him went through – his father, the Serpents, Archie and Veronica, his mother and sister who came from Toledo when they heard the news, hell, even Betty was worried out of her mind.

“It’s not a heroic sacrifice,” Jughead insists. “I’m sick of her. She’s going to follow me to university, and there’ll be a target on both my and Betty’s head.”

“I still can’t believe you haven’t told her you were accepted into NYU,” Fangs says. “She’ll go crazy when she finds out.”

“She won’t find out, because I’ll probably be dead by then.”

“Stop being so depressing, Jones,” Sweet Pea says. “We’re not doing that, so you can fuck off with your dumbass plan.”

“You almost died when she was here the last time,” Jughead snaps. “Or did you forget how she locked you two and Toni in some basement with no food and no water?”

“Actually, they did give us food, but it was shit,” Fangs points out.

“Listen.” Jughead sighs. “I’m speaking as your king, not as your friend. If it comes to it, let her kill me.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think this was a suicide mission,” Sweet Pea scoffs.

A malicious grin spreads on Jughead’s face. “Who said anything about letting her get close to me in the first place?”

 


	3. Chapter 3

“Stop right there, Elizabeth.”

Betty bites back a groan and turns to face her mother, who’s standing in the entryway with her arms crossed. “Yes, mom?”

“Why are coming back home at six in the morning?”

Betty sighs, suddenly feeling the painful effects of her hangover. Or maybe it’s just interacting with her mother after a night out giving her a headache. “I accidentally stayed over later than planned at Veronica’s. You know how we’ve been spending as much time together as possible before we go to college.”

“Then why are you wearing your Serpent jacket?” Alice asks. “I remember you leaving without it last night.”

“Cut her some slack, Al,” FP says, stepping into the room, gripping Alice’s shoulders. He and Alice have been trying to mend their relationship for a while, so he's been spending most of his time at their house. “Betty, hey. You look a bit… tired.” And then FP rubs his neck, his eyes a fraction wider than usual in a warning stare, and Betty immediately understands what he means, moving her hair as nonchalantly as she can.

She is going to murder Jughead. She’s lucky FP saw and not her mother, or else she would have –

“Betty, what is that on your neck?” Alice demands. Betty lets out a frustrated sigh.

“Why is everybody asking me that?” Betty exclaims. “It’s not like you don’t know that I have an active sex life!”

FP lets out a sound between a snort and a cough while Alice looks horrified at her daughter’s words.

“You know what…” Betty sighs and runs a hand through her hair. Alice’s eyes are still glued on the hickeys on her neck. Betty wonders what she’d do if she saw the ones on her thighs. “I’m going upstairs.”

Betty ignores her mother’s flabbergasted expression and FP’s sheepish one and heads up to her room, closing the door behind her. She sets the Serpent jacket down on her bed and strips her clothes off, tossing them in the hamper and running the water for a bath.

“Fucking Jughead,” Betty grumbles for the umpteenth time in the past three hours, this time because of how _sore_ she is, especially between her legs. While she waits for the bathtub to fill up, she takes the time to inspect her body. She runs a hand over the hickeys on her stomach, counting them. Four in total. She wishes she could remember anything about last night, whether Jughead is as good of a lover as the girls at the Whyte Wyrm say he is.

Of course he is. They wouldn’t keep coming back if he wasn’t.

Betty tosses a bath bomb into the now full bathtub and gets in, closing her eyes and leaning her head back. She’s just about getting relaxed when the door to the bathroom slams open and Betty lets out a tiny shriek, sitting up and splashing water on the floor.

“For a Serpent, you sure don’t have good reflexes,” Veronica’s voice says. “Jughead would have been armed with a knife.”

“I’m naked!” Betty cries indignantly.

“I’m sure it’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” Veronica says.

“Also, in reply to your previous statement, Jughead needs to be armed 24/7 because he keeps pissing people off and they all want to kill him now.”

“Are you talking about Penny Peabody?” Veronica asks, taking a seat on the closed toilet lid. "I heard she's back to Riverdale."

“How did you know?”

“Jughead showed up minutes ago to the Pembrooke to tell Archie,” she replies. “Something about being careful.”

“That’s why you’re awake this early.”

“Jughead just barged into my room like he owns the place. There was no way I could stay asleep.”

“He has a habit of doing that,” Betty says dryly.

“Speaking of Jughead,” Veronica muses in a sing-song voice. Betty sighs. This is probably what Veronica came for. “I heard he took you back home. Did you sleep with him?”

Betty wrinkles her nose in disgust. “Ew, no. I just crashed at his place so that my mother wouldn’t see me drunk.” She doesn’t know why she lied to Veronica. Actually, she does, and it’s because her pride would never allow her to admit that _she let Forsythe Pendleton Jones the Third fuck her._

“That’s disappointing,” Veronica notes. “I was hoping that you two having sex would eradicate all the sexual tension you guys have and you would stop fighting so much all the time.”

“You know that no matter what, we’re going to end up fighting,” Betty says. “He just gets under my skin.”

Veronica offers a sympathetic smile. “I know. I’ll be waiting in your room, I got us breakfast from Pop’s.

“You’re a lifesaver, V,” Betty says gratefully. Veronica gets up and walks out of Betty’s bathroom, closing the door behind her. Betty stays in the tub for another fifteen minutes before she gets out, draining it and getting dressed in comfortable sweatpants and a t-shirt before stepping back in the room.

“Hey, Betty, why are Jughead’s clothes on your floor?”

The color drains from Betty’s face. Jughead’s clothes that she wore from his house to hers were still on her bedroom floor. “Shit,” she hisses to herself when she meets Veronica’s raised eyebrow with wide eyes.

“It’s not what you think,” Betty insists just as Veronica opens her mouth. “I accidentally tore my dress and I had to change clothes before we went out to meet the others to talk about Penny, so I had to wear his clothes during the ride from the trailer to here. I can’t get on his motorcycle in my underwear, right?”

“I bet he would’ve enjoyed that,” Veronica remarks, making Betty’s features twist in disgust. “It’s not so bad for you to sleep with Jughead, B. I mean, you have sexual tension so thick I could cut it with a knife, you’re gorgeous, he’s hot –”

“Does Archie know you think that?” Betty asks dryly. She grabs Jughead’s clothes off the floor and tosses them on the back of the desk chair before she flops down on her bed and sighs. “Just give me food. My head is killing me.”

Veronica obliges, handing Betty one of the plates filled to the brim with pancakes and bacon. Betty sits back against the headboard, pushing her hair behind her shoulders, and digs in like she hadn’t eaten in days.

“I’m gonna leave,” Veronica says.

“But you just got here,” Betty complains while she chews.

“I just passed by to get you your food, but I have to go.” Veronica grabs her purse. “Archie and I are having breakfast with my parents.”

Betty snorts. “I so wouldn’t want to be you. I’ll pass by your speakeasy on my way to the bar tonight.”

“Be careful when you’re heading out,” Veronica reminds her when she’s by the door. “Penny hates all of the Serpents, you’re no exception.”

Betty dismisses her concern with a wave. “Bye, V.”

* * *

 

“I’m not drinking,” Betty tells Cheryl.

They’re in the Whyte Wyrm, sitting in the bar in front of Toni. The place is as busy as usual, the Serpents milling around, drinking, talking. Sweet Pea and Fangs are at the pool table, as usual, drinks in their hands.

“Why not, Betty?” Cheryl asks. “You never pass up on the offer for a chance to get loose.”

“I just drank too much last night,” Betty explains. “And I let loose a little too much.”

“You definitely did,” Toni says, taking a swig of her drink. Her eyes narrow at something behind Betty and Cheryl. “What the hell is Jug doing with Midge Klump?”

Betty whirls around. She finds Jughead leaning against the pool table, dressed in black jeans and his classic **S** shirt with his jacket thrown over it. Midge stands in front of him with barely an inch of space between their bodies, a coy smile on her face.

A flare of anger goes through Betty. Not even twenty-four hours ago he was breathing heavily against her neck, and now he’s got Midge Klump between his legs.

Jughead catches Betty’s eye which makes the latter’s glare intensify. A small smirk appears on his features before he returns his attention to Midge and Betty turns back to Toni. “Disgusting. I’m heading to the restroom.”

“Do you want us to come with?” Cheryl asks.

“Nope, I’m good.” Betty gets off her barstool and pushes past the throng of people to reach the toilet, careful to avoid the pool table. If she’s too close to Midge, she might just pull the girl’s hair out.

Betty shakes her head. This isn’t like her. Sure, Betty isn’t the same innocent, polite girl she was at the start of high school, but she’s never been violent, especially because of a _girl_.

She finishes her business in the toilet stall and moves to the sink to wash her hands. Just as she’s tossing the paper towels she used to dry her hands in the trash, the door to the toilets opens, and Jughead steps in, closing and locking the door behind him.

“This is the girls’ toilet,” Betty points out.

“I know.”

“Why are you here, then?”

“Nothing important.” Jughead steps closer to Betty. “Actually, I have a question for you.”

Betty rolls her eyes. “What?”

“Were you jealous?” Jughead asks, his voice dropping an octave. “Did it bother you to see me with Midge?”

“No,” Betty replies, her chin raised defiantly.

“You sure?” Jughead takes another step forward until he and Betty are almost chest to chest. “Because I think you were. I think it killed you on the inside.”

“I wouldn’t go so far,” Betty mutters, her gaze sliding from Jughead’s eyes to his lips for a split second. Jughead notices, and a cocky grin spreads on his face.

“Do you want me to kiss you, Betty?” he murmurs, placing his hands on her waist and pulling her to him. Betty shakes her head, her throat too dry to speak. “That’s a shame.” Jughead’s hands drop from Betty’s waist and he steps back. Before he can walk back to the bar, Betty grips his arm and whirls him around, smashing her lips against his.

Betty can feel Jughead’s smile against her mouth, but she decides now is not the time to think about that. She wraps her arms around his neck while he holds her face with his hands. After a few moments, he decides that it’s not enough, so he hoists her up, her legs wrapping around his waist and his hands gripping her ass.

“I need you,” he breathes against her lips before he moves to kiss at the juncture between her neck and shoulder. “ _Right now_.”

Betty lets out a tiny moan. She can feel his arousal pressing up against her core, moving a bit to get friction. “Do you have a condom?”

“My pocket.”

And then in a flurry of quick movements, Jughead slips inside Betty, pressing her back against the wall. She lets out a high-pitched sound of pleasure, her nails digging into Jughead’s shoulders while Jughead tightly grips her from behind, no space between their bodies.

“You feel so good around me, Betts,” Jughead says lowly, a guttural moan escaping him. “So tight.”

“Jug!” Betty cries out, and then she loses herself in the pleasure and ecstasy that only Jughead can grant her, repeating his name over and over.

* * *

 


	4. Chapter 4

Betty wakes up at seven in the morning with a nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach. She stumbles into the extravagant ensuite bathroom in Veronica’s room, falling onto her knees in front of the toilet seat and vomiting up all of the fancy dinner she had hours earlier. Once she finishes, Betty flushes the toilet and shakily stands up. She splashes cold water on her face and stares at her reflection in the mirror.

“B? You okay?”

Veronica steps into the bathroom, her voice still groggy from sleep, her hair in disarray.

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Betty replies. “It’s probably something in the food.”

Veronica looks like she wants to say something, but she only nods, disappearing for a few moments to grab Betty a bottle of water that the blonde accepts gratefully.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Veronica asks. “You know, maybe you should stay back home tonight. I’m sure the Serpents wouldn’t mind if you tell them that you’re sick.”

“We’re already low on numbers as it is,” Betty says. “There are only six of us who know about Penny’s return, and she has an entire gang at her beck and call.”

Veronica shakes her hand, wrinkling her nose. “I still don’t understand how she got the Ghoulies to side with her.”

“They’re a bunch of druggies,” Betty explains. “If Penny’s promised them their next fix, then they’ll wipe out the entire town to get it.”

“Disturbing,” Veronica notes. “I’m so glad that the Serpents aren't drug dealers and low-life criminals anymore. Jughead changed them when he became king. He’s done so much good to them.”

Betty’s stomach clenches at the mention of Jughead. It’s been a month since the night they fucked in the Whyte Wyrm, and things went back to normal after that. Well, as normal as possible, seeing as Betty can’t stop remembering the feel of him against her, or inside her, every time she looks him in the eyes.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Betty admits begrudgingly. “But I’m not skipping out tonight. Jughead needs us there whether he likes to admit it or not. He’s not going to go meet with Malachai by himself or he might end up with a knife in his neck.”

“Are you worried about our very own beanie-wearing Serpent king?” Veronica asks coyly.

Betty chucks a pillow at her with a smile playing on her lips. “No. I just don’t feel like dealing with all the panic that comes with a king dying.”

“You guys haven’t been fighting in a long time,” Veronica remarks.

“I barely see him for me to be able to fight with him,” Betty says. “I only see him at the Wyrm, and he’s always smoking with a different girl dry humping him.”

“Is that jealousy I smell?”

“No, it’s intense disgust.”

Veronica giggles. “Cheryl and Toni tell me you dumped your drink on Midge Klump’s hair, all because she was flirting with Jughead.”

Betty smiles fondly of the memory of the night a week earlier. “It’s actually because she called me bipolar. According to her, you can’t live on the Northside and be a Serpent. Well, her actual words were you can’t be a teacher’s pet by day and a slut by night.”

“Oh, my God, she said that?” Veronica demands. “What’s her address?”

Betty laughs. “Don’t worry. I took care of it and then Fangs ‘escorted’ her out the bar. And by that I mean he dragged her outside.”

“She’s become _such_ a bitch since high school.” Veronica shakes her head. “Anyway, you should sleep a bit more, B. You have a long night ahead of you.” 

* * *

 

“Alright,” Jughead’s voice booms out in the empty parking lot of the Whyte Wyrm. “You guys know the drill. No one steps in unless I’m severely hurt, no one interferes unless it's absolutely necessary. I don't want you getting hurt, we don't have insurance.”

Betty rolls her eyes. “This hero act you’ve got going on is seriously bullshit. Why doesn’t someone go in with you?”

“She’s right, Jug,” Sweet Pea insists. “What if Malachai tries something? We can’t afford to have you back in the hospital.”

Jughead snorts. “Malachai’s higher than the clouds. He can barely see straight in front of him, I’m actually scared he might accidentally stab himself.”

Betty exchanges a look with Sweet Pea. “Fine, but if you get hurt, you drive yourself to Riverdale General.”

Jughead smirks. “Deal.” His expression turns back to a no-nonsense one. “Alright. Toni and Cheryl take one bike. Fangs, Sweet Pea, you guys each take yours in case we need someone to alert the other Serpents.” And then, after a split second, he adds, “Betty, you’re with me.”

Cheryl and Sweet Pea raise their eyebrows simultaneously, while Toni and Fangs barely manage to keep their chortles in. Betty, to her credit, doesn’t give any reaction, taking the helmet from Jughead with a stony expression. He slips his own over his head and swings a leg over the motorcycle, resting his foot against the ground. Betty climbs in behind him, trying to leave as much space between them as possible.

Sweet Pea drives off first, followed by Cheryl and Toni, then Jughead and Betty, Fangs bringing the rear. Jughead revs the engine of his bike, causing Betty to slip her arms around his waist, her hands feeling the hard planes of his stomach through the soft cotton of his black t-shirt. Betty almost thinks she's dreaming when he says, so low that only she can hear him, “No funny business like last time. I can’t talk to the Ghoulies with a boner, right?

Betty inhales sharply. “That’s a shame. Maybe on the way back, then.”

Betty feels his body shake with his chuckles under her hold. God, how did she go from hating this man to wanting to feel every inch of him pressed against her in the span of a few weeks?

Jughead stops his bike a foot away from Pickens Park, and the rest follow his lead, pulling off their helmets and readying their weapons.

“Malachai’s probably already here,” Jughead says. He doesn’t seem nervous at the very least. If anything, he’s _bored_ , as if he’d rather be asleep instead of dealing with the Ghoulies. He can’t be blamed – between being the Serpent king, trying to get accepted into college, and working on his novel, he hadn’t been getting much sleep. After being relieved of one of these duties due to graduating high school, he should be sleeping through the night, but Malachai just wants to meet him in at one in the morning.

“It’s past midnight, he should be,” Fangs says.

Jughead nods. “Let’s go.”

He begins walking, not looking back at the five of them to see if they’re following. Sweet Pea lets out an unintelligible string of words, probably either cursing Jughead or Malachai, before following after him with Fangs in tow.

“Cousin, why do you look so worried?” Cheryl asks.

Betty tears her gaze from the Serpent on the back of Jughead’s jacket and meets Cheryl’s questioning one. “I’m not worried, I just feel like Jughead’s acting like an idiot for thinking that he can ‘protect’ us from Penny and her cronies. I have half a mind to just go with him right now.”

“We all do,” Toni says, “but you know that’s how Jughead is. He doesn’t know how to let someone else take care of the people he cares about. And when it comes to Penny, we’re lucky we managed to convince him to come with him tonight.”

“True,” Cheryl says as three begin walking, following the boys. “You should have seen him last night when we went to the trailer to talk to him. You're lucky you slept over at Ronnie's. He and Sweet Pea started a screaming match. Fangs kept trying to calm them down but then he ended up yelling as well, and it turned into an all out brawl.”

“Can you three walk any faster?” Fangs calls. “Jug’s already there.”

Betty quickens her pace until she’s beside Fangs. “Are we seriously going to let him go alone?”

“Don’t worry, Betty,” Fangs insists. “He’ll be fine.”

Betty bites her lip to keep from saying anything she might regret. Finally, they come to a stop next to Sweet Pea, who’s standing a few feet behind Jughead, his stance alert and ready just in case he might need to intervene.

“Jones!” Malachai’s manic voice is loud enough for all of them to hear him clearly. “You came.”

“I am a man of my word,” Jughead says. “What do you want?”

“It’s simple,” a female voice says, stepping out of the shadows. “It’s either your jacket or your life. Take your pick.”

A shiver runs through Betty’s spine at the sight of Penny Peabody, still looking the same as she did a year ago. Except, instead of having a Serpent jacket on her back, she has a plain black leather one, seeing as the Ghoulies don’t have branding of their own.

Jughead scoffs lightly. “You didn't mention that your little lady friend was going to be joining us tonight." Then, as an afterthought, he adds, "Over my dead body.”

Penny takes a step forward until she’s right next to Malachai, closer to Jughead. Cheryl readies an arrow to shoot it, pointing it to the ground for the time being.

“That’s what I’m hoping to achieve,” Penny muses. “You see, it wasn’t nice when you cut off my tattoo, and I’m a firm believer to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

“Are you seriously quoting the Bible to me?” Jughead demands. “I don’t have time for this right now.”

“I told you my conditions, Jones,” Penny says. “It’s either you walk away and the Serpents have a new queen, or you don’t even get to leave, and the Serpents still get a change of what they're used to.”

“She’s batshit crazy,” Betty mutters under her breath, feeling Sweet Pea tensing next to her at Penny’s words.

“I’m leaving, Penny,” Jughead says. “Stop contacting me. Go back to Greendale, or Centerville, or wherever you want. Just leave Riverdale, or I won’t be as kind to you as I was last time.”

Penny laughs. “Really, now. I have more power than you do, kid.”

“Keep dreaming.” Jughead gives her and Malachai a sarcastic one-fingered salute before he turns around and walks away.

“This was your last warning, Jones,” Penny calls out to his retreating figure. “Remember that when all your gang is lying dead around you, starting with your blonde Serpette.”

Fangs pushes Betty behind him, forming a sort of shield in front of her with Cheryl and her raised bow, causing Betty to roll her eyes. As if Penny or Malachai will grab her right now.

“If you break a fingernail of hers, I will rip you apart with my fucking bare hands,” Jughead replies without even turning around, his eyes meeting Betty’s with a sort of fire in them.

Malachai lets out a wicked cackle. “See you soon, Jonesy.” He and Penny turn around, vanishing back into the dark just as Jughead reaches the rest of the Serpents, a hard expression on his face.

“You know they only let you leave because they were overpowered, right?” Toni questions. "Six to two." Jughead nods, moving his hand to run it through his hair before he remembers he has his beanie on his head.

“Go back home, guys,” Jughead says through a heavy exhale. “It’s late. You shouldn’t even be here.”

“No Serpent left behind,” Betty quotes to him, prompting an eye roll.

“Should we do anything about their threats to Betty and all of us?” Sweet Pea asks.

“I don’t think they were serious,” Jughead replies. “That doesn’t mean you guys should let your guard down. I want you to have weapons on you at all times. Not necessarily a bow –” he looks pointedly at Cheryl – “but maybe something like a pocket knife will do, just in case they grab you off the street or something.”

“Stop worrying so much,” Fangs says. “Empty threats. Penny’s been threatening to wipe out all of the Serpents ever since your dad was in command.”

“I honestly don’t know what to expect from her,” Jughead says. “All she wants is to rule the Serpents and the Southside. I don’t know how far she’ll go to achieve that.”

“Don’t worry, everything’s under control,” Toni insists. “We spend most of our nights at the bar under your watch or at home, and they’d never try anything during the day.”

“Yeah, probably because they’d be sleeping off all of the Jingle Jangle in their systems,” Betty says, rolling her eyes. 

“I can’t believe Penny had the nerve to show her face back in town.”

“She wants blood,” Jughead says.

“She’s not getting it,” Betty replies.

Jughead sighs. “Come on. Let’s go.” He directs his next words to Cheryl and Toni. “Lock up well in Thistlehouse tonight. I don’t want to risk any chances. Fangs, Pea, I’ll drop Betty off at her house and come join you at the bar. I need a drink.”

“Sure, boss,” Sweet Pea says. “See you.” He and Fangs walk away, heading to their motorcycles, heads bent toward each other in a conversation.

“Call us when you get home,” Cheryl says. “Toodles.”

Betty lets out a small sigh. “Are you worried?”

“Why are you asking?”

“To see if I should be.”

“Since when do you check with me?” Jughead asks incredulously.

“Since I respect you for being the leader?” Betty replies though it’s more of a question. “I don’t know if I should take Penny’s words to heart. That woman’s got so many screws loose, I don’t know when she’s talking shit or when she’s talking rationally.”

Jughead rests a hand on Betty’s shoulders. “You’re annoying, and a pain in the ass, and sometimes I wish I could chain you to a train track just to get rid of you.”

Betty raises her eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

“Despite that…” Jughead sighs. “I’m not letting that bitch lay a hand on you. If anyone’s ever going to kill you, it’s going to be me and not anyone else.”

“Thank you, Forsythe,” Betty says sarcastically. “That’s so kind of you.”

Jughead winks. “I aim to please. Now come on, let me take you home.

* * *

 

“Betty, that is _enough_.”

Betty squints up to find Veronica Lodge, clad in a Louis Vuitton coat with a Prada purse in one hand and a paper bag from the pharmacy in the other. The raven-haired girl is glaring down at Betty, who is huddled on the bathroom floor in front of the toilet seat, having just vomited her dinner.

“It’s been a week!” Veronica continues. “An entire _seven days_. And you keep saying you feel bloated and sore, so when was your last period?”

Betty’s throat goes dry at Veronica's insinuation. “No, Veronica. No no no this can’t be it.”

“Betty, can we face the facts?” Veronica says, her voice softening at the panicked look on Betty’s face. “You had sex with someone a month ago, and you refuse to tell me who it was. Now you keep puking up your food. Hell, you cried yesterday because Jughead tugged at your ponytail.”

Tears pool in Betty’s eyes. “V, I can’t do this. I’m going to college in less than three months, I’m still eighteen, I can’t be – I shouldn’t –”

“Breathe, take deep breaths,” Veronica says soothingly, crouching down next to Betty on the floor. “Everything’s going to be just fine. No matter what happens, whether you’re pregnant or not, I will be right here beside you.”

Betty squeezes her eyes shut. “Don’t say that word, please.” She sighs deeply. “The Cooper women are fucking cursed with this, aren’t they? First Mom, then Polly, and now maybe me.”

“It’s okay, B,” Veronica insists. She takes out five different boxes from the bag she was carrying and places them on the floor next to Betty. “I’m going to wait in your room for you to do it. Pee on all of the sticks and we’ll wait a few minutes to see the verdict.”

“I don’t want to do this,” Betty whispers, mostly to herself, her hands shaking and her mind racing. “How did I get myself into this mess?”

Veronica gives her a small smile before she stands up and leaves the bathroom. Betty does as she’s told and then washes her hands, taking the sticks and placing them on the floor of her bedroom, sitting down cross-legged on the rug in front of them, eyes boring into the plastic pieces that will change her entire life.

“Betty,” Veronica begins, sitting down next to her best friend, “why didn’t you use a condom?”

“We were drunk,” Betty replies, no emotion in her tone. The tears keep streaming down her face, but she doesn’t make a move to wipe them away. “I know it’s no excuse, but it completely slipped our minds. During the deed and after it.”

“Can you tell me who it is?” Veronica coaxes.

“Jughead Jones,” Betty forces out, looking up and wiping her cheeks. She expects to see Veronica looking shocked and disgusted, but instead, she only has a sympathetic expression on her face, mixed with a bit of relief.

“Then you have nothing to worry about,” Veronica insists. “He’ll take care of you. You know how Jughead is. He would never abandon a person if they need him.”

“But we hate each other,” Betty protests dramatically. “He _despises_ me and I _despise_ him back. And he’s the leader of the gang I’m in – oh, my God, do you think he’s going to kick me out of the Serpents?”

“No, he isn’t!” Veronica replies immediately. “As for you hating each other, I think it’s about time you two stopped fighting for Archie’s attention. You’re both his best friends and he loves you equally. This habit has grown since you were all in kindergarten, and we’re all mature adults now.”

“We don’t fight about Archie anymore,” Betty says. “Who cares about Justin Gingerlake? We fight about everything on the face of the earth – V, what does two lines on this thing mean?”

Betty knows what it means. She’s just hoping, _praying_ , that she knows wrong.

Veronica swallows the lump in her throat, feeling her eyes tear up at Betty’s crestfallen expression. “Baby Jones is growing inside your stomach, B. I’m so, so sorry.”

Betty takes one more horrified look at the home pregnancy tests in front of her, and her shaking hands come to cover her mouth. A choked sob leaves her, and Veronica tightly wraps her arms around her, letting her cry on her shoulder.

 


	5. Chapter 5

It’s dark outside when Veronica opens the door to the Cooper household to find Cheryl and Toni in front of her. Hand in hand, both girls seem confused to see her, but that doesn’t take away from the determination on both their faces.

“Hello, Veronica,” Cheryl says. “Is Betty here, by any chance?”

“Yeah, of course she is.”

“Is she alright?” Toni asks.

Veronica hesitates before answering. “Not much, no. Why, what’s wrong?”

“Well, she hasn’t been answering our calls for a while, and we haven’t seen her since that night we went out for Jughead to see Malachai.” Cheryl raises her eyebrows at Veronica’s expression when the former said Jughead’s name. “Oh, God, what did he do now?”

“He is worried about Betty as well,” Toni adds helpfully. “It’s been two days since any of us have seen her or talked to her.”

“Something happened with Betty,” Veronica sighs, stepping back to let the girls enter. “If she wants to tell you what it is, it’s up to her, but I’m sure she does. Just give her ten more minutes, she’s on a video call with Kevin.”

Kevin Keller left Riverdale behind the minute he threw his cap in the air, signaling the end of his high school career. He didn’t even join the party at the speakeasy that night, so while his friends were busy getting shit-faced, he was dozing off on a plane to Paris.

Veronica closes the front door behind the two Serpents and turns to them. “Do you want something to drink? Or eat? There’s a lot of Pop’s takeaway, Betty won’t eat anything else.”

“Is anyone else at home?” Cheryl asks.

“No, Alice left to visit Polly at the farm,” Veronica replies. “She should be back by tomorrow night.”

“Seriously, Ronnie, what’s going on with Betty?” Toni asks, leaning forwards. “We’ve all been worried sick about her. Hell, even Jughead’s confused because she hasn’t shown up to the bar in so long. The last time she was so distant was when her father went to jail.”

Veronica runs a hand through her hair. “Betty’s going through a bit of a hard time, but she’s going to pull through. She always does.”

“Of course she’s going to pull through.” Cheryl rolls her eyes. “It doesn’t mean we can’t be there for her.”

Veronica opens her mouth to answer, but she’s cut off by Betty yelling, “V, Kevin hung up on me!”

Cheryl stomps up the stairs, followed by Toni. Veronica mutters a quick prayer in Spanish before dashing after them, just as Cheryl slams the door to Betty’s room open, announcing her presence.

“Elizabeth Cooper, you either give me a legit excuse as to why you have been MIA for the past forty-eight hours or I’m going to kill you.”

“Hey, Betty,” Toni greets with a wave. “Sorry about her, we were a bit worried.”

“A _bit_?” Cheryl echoes. “We thought someone _died_!”

“Everyone is very much alive,” Betty retorts dryly. “I was just feeling a bit under the weather.”

“Why didn’t you call us? Where’s your phone?” Toni demands.

“I broke it,” Betty answers simply.

Cheryl squints at Betty’s red-rimmed eyes, messy hair, and all-around exhausted and, dare she say it, sad appearance. “You’re not telling us everything.”

“Cheryl –”

“No,” Cheryl snaps, interrupting Veronica. “This is so not okay, Betty. You can’t just disappear on us like that, we were all worried, even Jughead –”

“I’m pregnant.”

That shuts Cheryl up. Her eyes widen, but other than that, she shows no reaction. Toni, on the other hand, gasps and her hands move to cover her mouth. “Oh, no, no, no. Don’t tell me it’s what I think it is.”

Betty looks down, avoiding her three friends’ gazes. “I think it is what I think it is.”

“You’re – you’re pregnant with Jughead’s child,” Toni says in a tiny whisper.

“ _WHAT?_ ” Cheryl screeches, looking between her girlfriend, cousin, and best friend. “Excuse me?”

“The night of graduation, when we found out Penny’s back,” Toni continues. “Jughead didn’t pass by your place to pick you up, you were already with him.”

Betty nods, tearing up again. She wipes at her eyes and sniffles, finally looking up to meet Toni’s warm brown eyes.

“Oh, Betty,” Toni murmurs. In a flash, she’s sitting right next to Betty, and the blonde is sobbing on her shoulder. Cheryl and Veronica surround her as well, trying and failing to soothe her.

“What happens now?” Cheryl mumbles to herself.

* * *

 

“JUGHEAD WAKE UP!”

Jughead groans and rolls around to bury his face in the pillow. Any other person would have jumped up at Sweet Pea’s battle cry, but to Jughead, who’s gotten used to Pea’s extra loud voice, it’s only one of the many ways his friend tries to annoy him.

“Seriously, get up,” Pea’s voice says, pulling the covers off of Jughead’s back. “Andrews is here, he says he needs to speak to you urgently. Something about Penny.”

That gets Jughead up and running. In a flash, he’s dressed and in the living room of his trailer, where Archie and Fangs sit on the couch, making conversation with bottles of beer cracked open in front of them.

“Arch,” Jughead says, causing the two boys to turn to him. “What’s going on?”

Archie looks weirded out at Jughead’s panicked expression. “Nothing much. What’s going on with you?”

“Sweet Pea told me…” Jughead stops talking and turns to glare at Sweet Pea, who has the decency to look semi-ashamed with a shit eating grin on his face. “Nothing. What’s up?”

“I just came to see how you’re doing,” Archie says. “After the whole sleeping with Betty fiasco.”

Jughead runs a hand over his face and sinks down into the old recliner. “Fucking hell. I told _Toni_ , how the hell did you all find out?”

“Toni told me,” Sweet Pea says.

“Who told me,” Fangs supplies.

“Who also told me,” Archie adds. “So, tell me. Do you still hate her guts?”

Jughead rubs the back of his neck, trying to push back the memories of his night shared with Betty. Her breathless moans, her nails digging into his back, pushing herself and pulling him closer –

“I don’t think he does,” Fangs muses, a smirk spreading on his face. “I think it’s quite the opposite.”

“He’s probably fallen in love with her,” Sweet Pea comments.

“You don’t fall in love with someone after having sex with them twice,” Jughead scoffs.

“ _Twice_?” Archie echoes, the corners of his mouth perking up. “Jug, sleeping with the same girl twice is like marriage to you, Mr. I-don’t-do-commitment.”

“I was drunk both times,” Jughead insists. “Hammered. Shit-faced. Take your pick.”

“So if Betty showed up right now and kicked us out of the trailer, you wouldn’t have sex with her?” Sweet Pea proposes. When Jughead remains silent, the other three boys erupt into whoops and laughter.

“You’re making it out to be a much bigger deal than it actually is,” Jughead mutters to himself. “Seriously, we just had a bit of fun and now everything’s back to normal. Except for the fact that she’s disappeared off the face of the earth.”

“She’s fine,” Archie says. “Ronnie told me she’s been feeling a bit sick lately, so she’s been staying with her.”

Sweet Pea lets out a muffled snort. “You sure Veronica’s staying with Betty and not in your room.”

The tips of Archie’s ears redden. “Well, more often than not, she’s with Betty. I think she’s really sick, she hasn’t left the house in a while.”

“Toni told me they’re going to see her today,” Sweet Pea says. “Cheryl might kick the front door down.”

“Maybe we should go see Betty tonight,” Jughead muses. “Check up on her.”

“You can’t,” Archie insists. Jughead turns to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “She doesn’t feel like seeing anyone. I swung by her house to make sure she’s alright and she had Veronica kick me out.”

“Is that it?” Jughead asks.

“Yes.” Archie’s eyes dart from Jughead to Sweet Pea to Fangs. “Why do you look like you don’t believe me? It’s like you’ve never seen Veronica angry. She bruised me, her own boyfriend, imagine what she’s going to do to you.”

Pea shrugs. “We can wait a day. If Cheryl and Toni come back with reassuring news, then we don’t have to go tonight.”

Jughead shrugs and leans back. “Fine by me.”

* * *

 

“You have to tell Jug,” Toni insists softly once Betty is done crying.

“I don’t know how,” Betty croaks out. “What if he kicks me out of the Serpents? It’s all I’ve ever known for so long besides Veronica, Archie, and Kevin. He’d –”

“Betty, Jughead would never kick you out of the Serpents,” Cheryl says. “He knows your worth, and you’ve helped solved countless cases. He’d never let you go.”

“You still have to tell him, B,” Veronica says, rubbing Betty’s arm comfortingly. “He deserves to know, and from you, not from some accidental joke from Archie’s part or something equally stupid.”

Cheryl raises a brow. “You told Archie before you told us? Really, Betty?”

“It was an accident!” Betty insists. “He came over this morning and I just blurted it out, kind of like what I did with you!”

“Let’s hope you don’t accidentally blurt it out to Jughead in the middle of an argument,” Cheryl says. “Now come on, we’re going out.”

“I have a fucking baby inside me.” Betty swallows. It still feels surreal to say it out loud, provoking a nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach. “I can’t drink, and I’m not going to sit around and watch you drink.”

“Then we won’t drink,” Toni says. “But you need to get out of the house, Betty. Locking yourself in your room is not going to solve your problems, you need to face them head-on.”

“Maybe you can tell Jughead,” Veronica suggests.

“No, not tonight.” Betty shakes her head. “Let me have just one last night before it all goes to shit.”

“Alright, then, it’s your call,” Veronica says. “Come on. Let’s get you dressed.”

Betty doesn’t know how Veronica, Cheryl, and Toni managed to turn her from walking mess to walking goddess in the span of half an hour. Well, it was mostly Veronica and Cheryl while Toni ate some of the leftover food from Pop’s and fed Betty.

“You look stunning, B,” Veronica insists.

“I look like I always do every day, V,” Betty laughs, “but thank you for the encouragement.”

“Shall we head out, ladies?” Cheryl asks.

One night, Betty thinks to herself. She just deserves one night before she comes clean to Jughead about her random act of disappearance, before she tells her mom, before she decides what she has to do about college…

Betty curls her fingers into her palms and smiles. “Yes. Let’s go.”

* * *

 

Jughead grumbles every single curse word he knows, reaching for his phone on the bedside table in a half-asleep state. The first time he decides to turn in for an early night, the universe decides to flip against him and make everyone suddenly interested in talking to him.

“What do you want, Sweet Pea?”

“This isn’t Sweet Pea!” a feminine voice says.

Jughead moves the phone from his ear to check the caller ID. “Oh. Veronica. Archie’s not with me right now.”

“I know, he’s with me,” Veronica says, probably rolling her eyes. “You need to come down to Riverdale General.”

Jughead sits up in his bed, suddenly alert. “Why?”

 All of the people he cares about start rushing through his head – his father, Sweet Pea, Fangs, Cheryl, Toni –

“It’s Betty,” Veronica whispers. “Betty’s been shot.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for the support this story has been receiving! i honestly just started it because i missed writing fanfiction but it's gotten so much positive feedback and i can't thank you enough <3

Jughead considers it a miracle that he arrives at the hospital in one piece after racing through the streets of Riverdale on his bike. He barely registers the sights in front of him, making a beeline to the receptionist.

“I’m here to see Betty Cooper,” he pants, but the woman sitting at the desk is too busy reading a copy of _Fifty Shades of Grey_ to pay proper attention to him.

“Visiting hours are over, come back tomorrow morning,” she says robotically.

Jughead slams his hands on her desk, causing her to startle and look up, dropping her book. “I’m here to see Elizabeth _fucking_ Cooper, and if you don’t let me in, I will burn this place to the ground.”

“Sir, if you don’t leave, I will have to call security,” the woman insists, having gotten over her temporary fear of Jughead.

“Does it look like I fucking care –”

“Jug!” Archie approaches him and grips his shoulder before turning his attention to the receptionist. “Sorry about him, he’s with me. C’mon, Jug. Let’s go.”

Jughead follows behind Archie, but not before giving the flabbergasted woman the middle finger. After he turns his back to her, his mind returns to Betty, immediately thinking of the worst.

If Betty doesn’t make it, then she’ll probably take a part of him with her. Even though they’re at odds more often than not, Jughead has known Betty for almost two decades, and he’s protected and cared for her throughout these years. She’s as important to him as Archie or his dad, and he can’t bear the thought of losing her.

“Arch, tell me she’s okay.”

Archie runs a hand through his hair. “She just got out of surgery. They took the bullet out, now she’s resting.”

Jughead lets out a heavy exhale just as they reach the door to Betty’s room. As soon as he opens it, Jughead is attacked by a spitfire in the form of Alice Cooper.

“You!” she hisses. “My daughter is in a hospital bed because she’s been running around with a gang of hoodlums like you! How _dare_ you, you swore to me that if I stopped interfering you would protect Betty with your life –”

“Alice, please –”

“Not now, FP,” Alice snarls. FP takes a step back, meeting Jughead’s eyes with a pitiful look. “This is all your fault Jughead, if you hadn’t convinced her to join the Serpents, we wouldn’t be here right now!”

“I didn’t convince her to join the Serpents, Mrs. Cooper,” Jughead says calmly. He can’t see behind Alice and his dad, so he doesn’t know who’s inside the room with Betty; he can't even see Betty herself. Archie did tell him that she’s okay, but he can’t know for sure until he sees her chest rising and falling in time with her breathing.

“Then who did?” Alice demands.

“She wanted to,” Jughead answers simply. “I was against it. I knew what kind of danger she’d be put in if I let her join, starting with the wretched dance, but we both know that Betty is very stubborn. She saw a home in the Serpents, and if she wanted to join a ‘gang of hoodlums’, then neither of us could have stopped her.”

“It isn’t Jughead’s fault,” Archie says, turning on his boy-next-door charm. “He wasn’t even with her tonight, and if he was, he’d be the one in the hospital bed.”

“Oh, I know how gangs work, I was in one myself,” Alice says. “Someone probably shot her to get to Jughead, and I won’t stand for this.”

Jughead sighs, running a hand over his face. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. You have my word that when I find out who did this, I will personally kill them.”

Alice suddenly calms down, the fire in her eyes dying. “I know you will, Forsythe.”

Jughead wrinkles his nose at the name but he doesn’t say anything. Alice moves away so he can pass, and Jughead’s eyes are immediately drawn to Betty’s sleeping form. He lets out the breath he'd been holding. There’s an IV attached to her arm, her shoulder bandaged, her eyes closed peacefully, but she looks fine.

“She was shot in the shoulder,” Jughead breathes out, relieved.

“Yeah,” Veronica says. Jughead turns to her, only just noticing her presence, dressed in a bottle green dress, barefoot with her black pumps under the bed. “Malachai wasn’t sober when he shot her, so his aim was off.”

“Malachai did this, huh?” Jughead mutters, stepping closer to Betty. He gently takes a hold of her hand, rubbing his thumb over it almost absent-mindedly. “How?”

“Toni, Cheryl, and I convinced Betty to go out tonight,” Veronica says. Jughead notices that her eyes are red-rimmed like she’d been crying. “They just left to get changed a few minutes before you arrived, by the way. We were just about to get in the Whyte Wyrm when Malachai showed up and started talking crap, threatening you and the Serpents. Betty told him to eat shit, among other things, and he must get pissed off really easily.”

“Malachai is unhinged,” Jughead says, shaking his head. “I’m guessing he shot her and then ran?”

Veronica nods. “By the time Toni turned to find him, he was already gone, so we just focused on getting Betty here before she lost too much blood.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Jughead mutters to himself. He lets go of Betty’s hand to shrug off his leather jacket, hanging it on the door handle.

“We’re leaving, Jug,” FP says.

“It’s almost midnight, I suggest you three go back home as well,” Alice says, putting her arms through the coat FP is holding up for her.

“We’ll stay for a bit more in case she wakes up,” Archie says, his hands on Veronica’s shoulders, rubbing them to try and comfort her.

“Alright.”

FP and Alice give them their goodbyes before leaving. Veronica turns to Jughead. “Does it feel weird that you slept with your father’s girlfriend’s daughter?”

Jughead freezes for a second before turning to Archie. “I get that she’s your girlfriend, but it’s bros before hos! How could you tell her?”

“She’s not a ho, she’s my girl,” Archie says, leaning down to press a kiss on top of Veronica’s hair.

“Also, Betty told me,” Veronica says. “So, how was it? Did you enjoy it?”

“I am not having this conversation with you, Lodge,” Jughead says. “You’re a walking gossip mill.”

Veronica scoffs. “I’m not.” Her gaze softens when it turns to Betty. “Poor B. She doesn’t deserve this.”

Archie squeezes Veronica’s shoulders. “Don’t worry. She’ll get through it.”

Jughead’s eyes narrow at his two best friends. “Is there something you two aren’t telling me?”

Veronica and Archie look at him with wide, innocent eyes. “No, of course not,” Veronica says, and Jughead can’t shake the feeling that she’s lying.

* * *

 

Jughead removes his beanie and places it on the bed, next to his and Betty’s interlocked hands. It’s almost two in the morning, and he’s alone in her hospital room. Earlier, Cheryl and Toni showed up with a bottle of vodka that was shared between the five of them while they waited in vain for Betty to wake up, until Veronica started dozing off so Archie took her home, Cheryl and Toni leaving not long after.

Now he's left alone with a sleeping girl he kind of hates and his own thoughts. He sighs, closing his eyes for a few moments before he begins talking.

“You scared the shit out of me, Elizabeth,” he says lowly, running a hand through his hair. “When I got Veronica’s call, the first thought that went through my head was that I would never be able to go to your funeral because I’m sure that people would make you out to be the innocent little Betty with her ponytail and her pastel pink sweaters, and I would hate it because so would you.”

Jughead looks at their joint hands and sighs again. He wishes Cheryl and Toni brought another bottle of alcohol with them.

“They said you’re lucky,” he continues. “The bullet missed all your vitals, and you can leave tomorrow if you wake up right now. And then maybe I can convince you to stop coming with me on dangerous outings, but I know you’d never do something if I tell you to do it, so I'll just have to take care of you.”

Jughead feels the pressure of a squeeze on his hand. He looks up at Betty’s face to find her eyes slowly fluttering open, her lips parting for her to take a deep breath. Jughead sits up straighter, letting out a sigh of relief, just as Betty croaks out, “Water.”

Jughead jumps up from his spot and grabs a glass of water, helping Betty take small sips of it to soothe her parched throat. When she’s done, he sets the empty glass down and grips her hand again, this time a little bit tighter.

“Is Veronica okay?” Betty asks worriedly before Jughead can say anything. “And Cheryl and Toni?”

“Everyone’s fine, Betty,” Jughead insists soothingly. “You’re just – wait, shit, we should call a nurse.”

“No,” Betty protests softly. Jughead, who had been in the process of getting up, sits back down in the chair next to her bed. “No, not now. Later.”

Jughead nods. Betty lets out a tiny sigh. “I don’t like how you’re treating me like I’m fragile right now. Stop babying me, Jug, and start yelling at me. I know that it's killing you inside that you're sitting here like that.”

Jughead doesn’t say anything, studying her appearance. Betty seems tired, but _okay_ , and that’s all that matters. He had no idea he’d need such a scare to realize how much the blonde girl meant to him, but now that he can see it, he might consider making her live with him.

“Nah. Maybe later,” he jokes, his heart not into it. “You feeling okay?”

Betty shuffles around in the bed. Her eyes catch sight of her and Jughead’s hands together. After a few moments of contemplation, she pulls away, folding both of her hands over her stomach. Jughead pulls his hand away, using it to run it through his hair.

“Yes. I’m fine,” Betty replies, a bit tense. “I think we should call the nurse."

“Right.” Jughead swallows tightly, standing up. “I’ll be right back.”

* * *

 

The next day, the doctor shows up to give Betty documents to sign before she can leave. Jughead, Archie, and Veronica are with her, prepared to take her out to Pop’s for some old-fashioned relaxation with burgers and milkshakes.

“You were very lucky, Elizabeth,” the doctor notes. “Not only because the bullet missed any vital organs, but you also got here quick enough to keep you from losing too much blood.”

Betty has the smile she wears on her face when she’s talking to strangers. Jughead’s learnt to categorize her smiles over the years: the polite, good-girl smile for people she doesn’t know; the smile where one corner of her mouth quirks up a bit more when she’s taking care of Juniper and Dagwood; the sarcastic grimace reserved for him and her mother; the little cocky smirk when she’s on Serpent business; and the genuine grin that appears just before she bursts into laughter.

“The results for your tests came back as quick as possible, as per Mr. Lodge’s request,” the doctor continues.

Veronica and Betty share a quick glance. Veronica wouldn’t let Betty spend a single penny to cover her hospital bill, and since Hiram is willing to do anything to win his daughter back, Veronica figured that it wouldn’t hurt if he paid for Betty’s expenses at the hospital.

“You’re in perfectly good health, and so is the baby growing in your stomach, thankfully. Have a good day, and make sure to come back next week for your checkup.”

Betty’s smile has slipped off her face, her wide eyes trailed on Jughead’s thunderstruck expression. “Thank you, doctor.”

Once the doctor leaves the room, Jughead slowly turns to face Betty. Veronica and Archie stand in the corner, waiting with bated breath for Jughead’s reaction.

“How long ago was it that you slept with someone who wasn’t me?”

“Four months,” Betty answers in a small whisper, so low she doesn’t know how Jughead hears her.

“How far along are you?”

“I think it’s been a month.”

Jughead nods slowly, his eyes finally meeting Betty’s. “We didn’t use protection on the first night, did we?” Betty shakes her head. “You’re carrying my child.”

Betty nods, her eyes brimming with tears. “You weren’t supposed to find out like this.”

“Was I ever going to find out?” Jughead asks, his voice becoming louder. “Were you ever going to tell me, or would you have left Riverdale in a few months without so much as telling me that there’s a half-me half-you growing in your womb?”

“Jug, how could you even say that?” Archie asks.

“Look, let’s not talk about this here,” Veronica interrupts them. “Betty, Jughead, you two go somewhere to talk in private about this whole thing.” She grabs her purse and walks out with Archie. “Call if you need us.”

Betty turns to Jughead, whose expressions have vanished off his face. “I’m taking you to my trailer. Let’s go.”


	7. Chapter 7

They don’t end up talking. Jughead drops her off at the Cooper household, wordlessly watching her get off his bike. He drives off as soon as her feet are planted on the ground, not even looking back. Betty holds back the tears and takes out her keys and walk inside.

“Betty!” Alice cries, dashing up to her daughter and gathering her in a tight hug. “I was just coming to get you. Who drove you home?”

“Jughead,” Betty answers simply. “He had to leave. Serpent business. Or whatever.”

Alice shakes her head. “Honestly, that boy. If you hadn’t been friends with him for so long, I would have never allowed you to continue seeing him after he landed you in the hospital. At least he had the decency to promise to protect you the next time.”

“Jughead and I have never been friends,” Betty reminds her mother, choosing to ignore the rest of her sentence. “We fight all the time.”

“It doesn’t mean you’re not friends, you’ve known him for your whole life,” Alice insists, shrugging off her coat. “I’m going to bake cookies. Do you need any help with showering, or anything?”

“I think I can manage.”

Betty couldn’t manage, ending up in a mess of tears, snot, and water in the bathtub. Alice found her sobbing hysterically. She ended up helping her, all the while trying to cheer her up and raise her spirits. Alice helped Betty dress in her comfiest pair of pajamas and left her in her room to rest with a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

Betty shuffles under her comforter, cookies on the bedside table, to call Veronica.

“B!” Veronica exclaims. “Please, please tell me you worked things out with Jughead.”

Betty picks at a loose thread of her pajama bottoms. “Nope. He dropped me off at home and then he left without even saying a word.”

Veronica gasps as though what he did offended her. “That little shit. Don’t worry, Archie’s already on his case anyway.”

“Thank you, V,” Betty says. “Can we talk about something that doesn’t involve Jughead or my pregnancy?”

“Yeah, sure.”

They spend the next hour gossiping just like the old times, talking about everything from the celebrities in Hollywood to what Midge Klump was wearing the other day at Pop’s.

When Betty hangs up, a knock sounds at her window. Betty grips the covers tightly in her hands, curling up into herself. It could be Penny or Malachai, coming back to finish the job with her, leaving her to lie in a puddle of her own blood in her bed –

Another tap-tap. Betty pulls the knife that Jughead stashed from under the mattress and holds it in a steady grip, slowly moving to her window. In the dark, she can’t tell who the shadow is, so she slowly opens the window, keeping the knife clenched firmly in her hand.

“It’s me, Betty,” a voice she knows all too well says.

Betty moves back from the window in shock. “Jughead? It’s midnight.”

“I don’t care, I had to see you,” Jughead replies, climbing through the window and landing in Betty’s room, standing directly in front of her.

“You didn’t want to see me earlier when you dropped me off and then you just left,” she says accusingly, trying not to pout. It hurt more than she likes to admit when Jughead just raced off on his motorcycle without even looking back at her.

Jughead takes a step closer to Betty. “I’m sorry, Betty, it was just a bit overwhelming. I just needed a bit to think for my own about what’s going on.”

Betty climbs back into bed, sitting up against the headboard. “Have you reached your verdict yet or are you just here to tell me that?”

Jughead hesitates before taking off his jacket and kicking off his combat boots, sitting down on the bed, facing Betty.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me, Cooper?” Jughead asks, pulling his beanie off and running his hands through his hair with a frustrated sigh. “This isn’t something that you can just brush off, for fuck’s sake. I’m involved in this, too. You can’t just keep it from me.”

“I had to come to terms with it on my own at first,” Betty replies, her voice getting a little bit heated. “You imagine waking up one day, puking your guts out because you’re pregnant with the child of the one person who hates you the most after a a bit of accidental drunk sex.”

“You weren’t drunk the night at the Wyrm,” Jughead points out, “and neither was I.”

Betty scoffs. “Right. And what about our parents? They’ve been trying to fix things together for years now, we can’t just ruin everything for them by telling them we slept together one night and now we’re facing the consequences.”

“They wouldn’t care,” Jughead says nonchalantly.

Betty raises her eyebrows. “Are you seriously hearing yourself?”

Jughead sighs, burying his face in his hands to keep from saying something insensitive before looking back up to Betty and saying the one thing that’s been on his mind since he found out that she’s pregnant. “I’m not going to be a good father. I don’t know how to.”

Betty’s features soften. She remembers all too well when she would stumble into Archie’s room in the early morning and find Jughead laying on the floor mattress because it wasn’t safe to go back home.

She remembers Jughead, at sixteen, bearing a crown he did not want nor care for, carrying a burden on his shoulder for probably the rest of his life, all to ease his dad’s troubles.

Mostly, she remembers Jughead arriving to her own doorstep one night, his face and body bruised and bloodied, begging her to fix him up because he doesn’t want anyone to see him like this.

“I don’t want anyone to think that my dad’s a bad guy,” he’d whispered in the crook of her neck when she pulled him into her arms. “I know he isn’t.”

FP Jones is now a different, better man, but that doesn’t change all of the painful childhood memories Jughead has of his dad. It doesn’t erase all of the emotional scars.

“You’re not your dad, Jug,” Betty insists softly, leaning forward to place her hand on his knee.

“I don’t know what to do, Betty,” he croaks out. “God, we’re eighteen. We have to go to college, I’m running a _gang_. What kind of child grows up around men with pocket knives and brass knuckles on them 24/7?”

“A really badass kid?” Betty guesses, eliciting a half-laugh from Jughead. “You didn’t tell me where you’re going into college.”

Betty sees his Adam’s apple bob when he swallows. “I got accepted into NYU. Full scholarship.”

Betty’s eyes widen. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t get the chance to,” Jughead replies, shrugging. “I wanted to surprise you. And then the whole Penny thing came up, and college was shoved to the back of my mind.”

“Yeah, education isn’t really important when there’s a deranged woman trying to kill you.”

“I’m sorry that Malachai got to you,” Jughead says. “I swear it, Betty, I’m going to put the bastard in the ground.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were worried about me,” Betty teases.

Jughead snorts. “You try getting a call from Veronica in the dead of the night to tell you this girl you absolutely hate got shot.”

“I’m sure you felt your entire world crashing down around you.”

Jughead laughs, pretending that what Betty just said isn’t the truth. He sobers up almost immediately, looking away from her and trailing his gaze to the fluffy pink comforter, debating whether or not to ask the next question.

“Are you going to keep the baby?”

Betty worries at her bottom lip, her expression troubled. It takes her a few moments to answer, but when she does, it’s determined. “Yes, Jughead. If you want nothing to do with me, I understand. Actually, I don’t understand, and you’d be a real coward and it would make me hate you more than I already do –”

“You’re not doing this alone, Betty,” Jughead interrupts. “You’re a dumbass if you think you’re doing this by yourself. I messed up as much as you have, and I’m not going to leave you to clean it up alone. Takes two to tango.”

Betty brushes her fingers under her eye when she feels it dampen a bit. “But what about NYU? We can’t both put our education on hold.”

“We could take a gap year,” Jughead suggests. Betty opens her mouth to protest, but he cuts her off. “Hear me out. We could stay in Riverdale. Take care of the baby for its first few months, and then we’ll leave to New York. Rent an apartment there, switch our schedules so one of us can be with the baby at all times.”

“You were offered a scholarship, Jug,” Betty reminds him. “You can’t just throw it away.”

“This is bigger than some scholarship.”

“I won’t let you,” she says, a determined expression on her face. “I will _not._ ”

Jughead lets out a small sigh. “You know what, we’ll talk about this later. This needs thinking on both of our parts. There’s one thing I need to talk to you about.”

“What?”

“No more dangerous outings with the Serpents,” Jughead says, awaiting Betty’s reaction. “First, if the Ghoulies get a whiff that you’re pregnant, it’s not going to be pretty. Second, you don’t need to put yourself out there.”

“You can’t control me,” Betty tells him for probably the millionth time.

“Betty, this isn’t about controlling you, this is about keeping you safe,” Jughead insists. “You’re carrying a child. You can’t just walk into a fucking battlefield anymore.” Jughead takes a deep breath before continuing. “I don’t want you to get hurt anymore, Betts. This was enough.”

He reaches forward to softly brush his fingers against Betty’s shoulders. She stares at him intently for a few moments before grabbing the front of his shirt, locking his lips to hers. It’s soft, at first, until their passion takes over and Jughead is suddenly on top of Betty, his hands under her shirt where he’s pleased to find that there’s no bra. Betty, on the other hand, is palming him through his jeans, pulling out a strangled moan from his throat.

“That’s not what I came here to do,” he breathes against her lips. Betty lets out a tiny giggle and pulls away from him, biting her lower lip. Jughead lets out a small groan. “God, Elizabeth, you’re driving me crazy.”

“Good to know,” Betty murmurs, pressing a kiss to the underside of his jaw. Jughead feels his stomach lurch pleasantly, and he falters for a few moments. He’s never felt this way around anyone, let alone Betty Cooper.

“I should go,” Jughead insists.

“Or you could stay,” Betty suggests, not letting go of him. He’s lying above her, his elbows digging into the mattress on either side of her to support his weight, and her good arm is looped around his neck, playing with his hair. “It’s pretty late out and no one’s with you if Penny’s on the loose.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Jughead agrees, his gaze trailed on Betty, more specifically, her lips. He can’t help but kiss her again, swiping his tongue across her bottom lip and biting softly on the flesh.

Jughead drags himself away from her; Betty whines from the loss of contact. Jughead pushes himself off the bed to rid himself of his pants, shirt, and socks, climbing back into bed with Betty in just his boxers.

“Come here,” he mutters, pulling Betty into the circle of his arm while being careful not to hurt her injured shoulder. Betty snuggles into him and quickly falls asleep to the sound of his steady heartbeat.

Her sleep doesn’t last long as she is woken by the burning pain in her shoulder Jughead’s gravelly whispers. At first she thinks he’s talking to her, but then she realizes that he has a hand over her still-flat stomach and he’s not looking at her face.

“You’re probably the size of a walnut or something right now,” Jughead mutters, “but maybe you can understand me. I’m not good with this whole pregnancy crap – shit, I shouldn’t curse, you’re a baby – oh, fuck!”

Betty stifles her laugh, keeping her eyes closed. She doesn’t want to intrude on his private moment, and even though she feels like she’s spying on him, she can’t help it.

“I don’t know how to be a dad,” Jughead continues, his voice soft. “Archie taught me how to play football and Betty taught me how to fix cars. I slept on the floor of Archie’s room and Betty bandaged most of my wounds for me. I found a family in Archie, Betty, and Veronica, and then I found another one with Toni, Pea, Fangs, and the rest of the Serpents, but I never found family with my blood until recently, and it made me feel like something’s wrong with me.”

Betty feels her heart clench with sadness. She has the urge to reach up and pull Jughead into her, to mold them into one soul, to take his pain and make it her own.

“I don’t know what I’m doing, what I’m going to do.” Jughead’s hold around Betty tightens a bit. “But I know that you’re going to have a better childhood than I did, and I won’t leave your mother. Ever. I might fight with her all the time and drive her against the wall and probably be the death of her just like she is mine, but I will never abandon her. I will never abandon you.”

Betty keeps her eyes closed but reaches for Jughead’s hand to lace their fingers together. She feels his lips press a soft kiss against her forehead, then his breath as he murmurs a few words she doesn’t catch. Betty lets out a soft, contended sigh, before she buries her face in Jughead’s neck and kisses him there, right before drifting off into sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not proud of this chapter and it's unedited. enjoy <3

_I think I’m starting to love you, Betty Cooper._

Jughead had whispered those words against Betty’s forehead only two nights ago, and now, the two sit on the couch opposing to the one where both their parents are seated with stunned expressions.

It’s been a long time coming. How could he not love Betty after knowing her for fifteen years, watching her transition from the perfect, careful, quiet girl next door to the badass Serpent ready to risk her neck just to piss off a few uptight Northsiders or unsuspecting Ghoulies? When she’d been his rock to lean on, when she’d been his anchor to tether him to his sanity, when she’d been a road back home for him for all these years?

“What?” FP chokes out, the first to break the silence.

“You heard me the first time; please don’t make me repeat it,” Betty says. Her eyes drift to her mother. Betty expected everything except this silence from Alice Cooper, and it’s frightening her.

“I thought you couldn’t stand each other,” FP says. “How the hell did you two happen?”

“Hate sex is the best sex,” Jughead mutters under his breath. Betty elbows him in the ribs. “Ow, I’m sorry.”

“And a condom,” FP continues, aghast. “How could you forget that? Jughead, you act as if it’s the first time you’ve ever slept with a girl. As if you don’t know the consequences of forgetting protection.”

Jughead sobers up immediately. By “consequences,” FP Jones is talking about the foundation of his marriage to Gladys: a night of drunken sex that ended up with the third Forsythe in the woman’s womb, forcing the unlikely pair together to provide a life to their son/mistake.

“That’s different,” Jughead speaks up. He can feel Betty watching him with a confused frown, having no idea what his father is even talking about. “I actually know the girl I knocked up like the back of my hand. That’s more than you can say about you and Mom.”

“You’re eighteen,” FP sighs. “Both of you. Are you going to throw NYU away for this?”

“We made a mistake, we’ll deal with the repercussions,” Jughead snaps, fed up with his father’s holier than thou attitude.

Betty turns to her mother. “Mom, can you please say something?”

Alice takes a few seconds to begin talking, and when she does, it’s like a dam has been broken open. “What do you want me to say, Elizabeth? I thought you would be the only one responsible enough to go to college without a child growing in your stomach.”

“Polly didn’t even go to college,” Betty points out. “And I thought you’d be more understanding, considering you went through the same thing I’m going through. But thank you, mom, for showing me that I can always count on you.”

Betty huffs and gets up from her spot on the couch, walking out of the front door and slamming it behind her.

Jughead sighs and runs a hand over his face. “Great going. Talk to us when you feel like you can stop reprimanding us for the same mistake you made when you were even younger.”

He follows Betty out of the house, leaving his father and his mother on the couch speechless, to find the blonde not too far, sitting on the doorstep and silently crying.

Jughead’s heart breaks at the sight in front of him. Betty had such a bright future in front of her, with children years further down the road, not months. To see her crying because of a predicament he helped cause gives him a sense of guilt so enormous he doesn’t know what to do with it.

“Betts,” he murmurs, sitting down next to her. He pulls her into his chest, rubbing her back comfortingly. “We’ll get through this, baby. Everything is going to be okay.”

“I failed her, Jug,” she sobs quietly. “All my life, I’ve been trying so hard to make my mother proud, only to mess it all up at the end. I keep ruining things. God, I’m such a fuck up.”

“You’re not,” Jughead insists softly. “You’re worth so much more than you think. Without you, everything would have been different.”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t be faced with throwing away a scholarship to help raise a child,” Betty snorts.

“God, Elizabeth, this isn’t your fault,” Jughead says, his hand ghosting over Betty’s stomach. “My dick, I should’ve thought of wrapping it up, but you looked like fucking heaven in front of me and everything else other than worshipping you like the goddess you are was shoved to the back of my mind.”

Betty bites back her smile, leaning her head on Jughead’s shoulder. “You sure know how to make a girl feel better.”

Jughead grins. “One of the many qualities I have. We still on for the doctor’s appointment this afternoon?”

* * *

 

“Hello, Elizabeth, I’m Doctor Macmillan.” She’s a middle-aged woman with a kind smile and crinkles next to her eyes, laugh lines on her cheeks.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Betty says, holding her hand out for a handshake.

“Likewise,” Macmillan says, shaking Betty’s hand, before her hazel-eyed gaze moves to Jughead. “Boyfriend?”

“No, I’m just, uh, the father,” Jughead replies. He shakes the doctor’s hand as well. “I’m Forsythe Jones.”

Macmillan nods at him. If she recognized his name either from his father or from running the Serpents, she doesn’t say anything, only gestures to the examination table and instructs Betty to lie down. Jughead stands next to the examination table, where Betty is squirming as the doctor spreads the cold gel onto her stomach.

“Yeah, it does tickle,” Doctor Macmillan notes. She sets the tub of gel down and grabs the transducer.

Jughead immediately reaches for Betty’s hand without even thinking of it, his eyes fixed to the screen where the image of Betty’s womb is about to be shown. Betty squeezes on his hand reassuringly, sparing a glance to his anxious features before looking at the screen.

“Alright,” the doctor says as the image finally appears on the screen. Jughead sucks in a breath, his hold tightening on Betty’s hand. “I’d say you’re about eight weeks pregnant, Elizabeth. If you look here, you can see the baby’s hands and feet forming. Look, even its fingers are beginning to take shape. Do you want to hear the heartbeat?”

Betty nods, her eyes filling up with tears. “Please.”

In a few moments, the steady sound of the baby’s heartbeat fills the room. Jughead turns to look at Betty in amazement, his eyes getting a little glassy. “If this is a mistake, then it’s the best one I’ve ever made.”

Nodding, Betty moves to kiss Jughead’s cheek softly, letting her lips linger. The doctor stares at their small exchange with a tiny smile on her face.

* * *

 

Jughead closes the front door to the Cooper household after himself and Betty, turning to find Alice and FP standing in front of them.

“We’re going home, boy,” FP says. “You and I need to have a long talk.”

“I have to go see Fangs,” Jughead says, blurting out the first excuse that comes to his mind. “Check up on his mom.”

“They’ll be fine for half an hour,” FP insists. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Jughead sighs, seeing no choice but to follow his father, especially with the way Alice Cooper is looking at him.

“I’ll call you later,” he mutters to Betty, squeezing her arm as he passes by her on his way out. Betty nods and watches him head out before turning to her mother with crossed arms.

Alice gestures to the couch. “Take a seat, Elizabeth.”

Betty has half a mind to just go upstairs and lock herself in her room, but she knows she can’t avoid her mother forever. Betty sits down and waits for Alice to begin talking.

“Can I know how this happened?”

Betty rolls her eyes. “You graduated high school. I’m sure you know all about the birds and the bees.”

“You know what I mean, Betty.”

“Fine.” Betty sighs. “It was the night of graduation. We were at the speakeasy, and Veronica and Archie were acting all in love and Jughead kept annoying me on purpose, so I told Reggie to give me as much alcohol as possible. Somehow, Jughead and I ended up drinking it all together and then going back to the trailer on his bike.”

“You let him drive drunk?” Alice demands.

“It’s not like I was in my right mind,” Betty admits. “All I could think of – I don’t know what it even was.” She does, it was getting Jughead out of his clothes. “And then we started fighting, and then I kissed him, or he kissed me, and now we’re here.”

Alice sighs. “Well, it’s not like I’m a stranger to the charm the men of that family possess.”

Betty’s features soften. “Mom, I don’t want whatever is going on between Jughead and I to affect your relationship with FP. I know how hard it was to mend your relationship after everything went down.”

“Betty, you and Jughead could get married and it wouldn’t break FP and I apart,” Alice says. “The two of us have fought a lot to get to the point where we are now, and nothing is going to ruin that for us. Did you decide what you want to do for college?”

“I’m taking a year off, obviously.”

“And Jughead?” If Alice is miffed at her daughter’s response, she doesn’t show it.

A small frown forms on Betty’s face. “He wants to take the year off with me and stay in Riverdale to help me.”

“Well, that’s a good thing –”

“Mom, he got a full ride to NYU,” Betty says. “I can’t let him throw it away. I know how hard he’s worked for it, and he deserves it. I’ll try to figure out some sort of compromise to keep him near me at all times as he wants and still get the education he earned.”

Alice’s eyes narrow. “Betty, are you sure that nothing’s going on with you and Jughead?”

Betty looks down, not meeting her mother’s eyes. “Yes. I just… There’s a half-me half-him in my stomach. I can’t find it in me to hate him anymore. But nothing more than that, really.”

Alice nods, pretending to believe her daughter.

* * *

 

Jughead doesn’t want to be in the trailer. He wants to be back in Betty’s bed, where he’s been for the past few nights, holding her in his arms and talking quietly to her stomach, enveloped in her strawberry scent. Unfortunately, everything good must come to an end.

“Tell me, Jughead,” FP starts, “what are you going to do?”

Jughead takes a swig of his beer bottle. Usually, he doesn’t drink in his father’s presence, but tonight, he really couldn’t care less. “If she stays here, I’ll stay. If she goes to New York, I’ll go. If she moves to fucking Russia, I’ll follow her there.”

“Language,” FP says, though both he and his son know he doesn’t mean it. “Since when are you dependent on a girl’s decisions to choose your path in life? You wouldn’t even listen to your mother.”

“Betty isn’t some random girl,” Jughead insists. “I’ve known her before I stopped wearing diapers, and now she’s carrying my child.”

“You’d throw away college for her?”

Jughead sighs. It had been a hard decision, but he’d made a promise to himself not to be a shit father to his unborn son or daughter, and skipping on them for the first few months of their life does fall under the category of shit father.

“I can put college on hold for her,” Jughead corrects him.

“What about the Serpents?” FP asks. “Heard Penny’s out for your blood. You know that’s why Malachai shot Betty. To get to you.”

“I know,” Jughead says bitterly, the memory of Betty in a hospital bed creeping up on him and sending a chill down his spine. “I won’t let it happen again.”

FP sighs. It seems nothing is going to change his son’s mind about Betty. “Jughead, answer me honestly. Do you love her?”

Jughead looks down. “I don’t know. Maybe. Probably. I think so.”

“Then for what it’s worth, son, don’t fuck it up,” FP advises him. “If you love her, and she might love you –”

“She’d never.”

“– then don’t throw it away. You’ll end up regretting it for the rest of your life.”

Jughead looks at his father, knowing the man must be talking of his own experience with Betty’s mother. “Dad, is this going to change anything between you and Alice?”

FP chuckles. “No, son. And neither will any sort of relationship between you and Betty.”

“I think I’m falling for her,” Jughead lets out in a strangled voice. “I don’t even know what to do.”

“Tell her, or she’ll slip right through your fingers.”

And then Jughead looks at his father and sees the shadow of the boy he once was at sixteen, fooling around with a girl with no strings attached until he'd gotten caught up in her, and fate pushed them apart. Jughead sees the pain and agony FP and Alice went through to claw their way back together, and Jughead decides he and Betty will never end up like their parents.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy 2.3k words of unedited bughead fluff. i promise once my exams are over i'll start posting better (and longer) content, but for now this is all i can push out! <3

As has been usual for the past two weeks, Jughead wakes up with Betty wrapped up in his arms, her pink duvet thrown over them to keep them warm against the AC on full blast. A quick look at his phone shows him that it’s eight o’clock and that he has fifteen texts from Sweat Pea, who was probably drunk last night with no Fangs to keep him from doing something stupid.

Jughead sets his phone back on the bedside table and looks down at Betty, who’s still asleep, her mouth slightly open. How they got into this routine of sleeping together every night is something neither of them has the answer to. It just… happened.

And because of that, Jughead was struck with the realization of how much he likes waking up next to Betty. And then, the realization that yeah, he’s in love with her. Desperately. Hopelessly. And tragically.

He didn’t know he could fall in love. He didn’t know he could fall in love in less than a month. He didn’t know he could ever learn how to tolerate Betty’s existence. Maybe if one of these things had happened alone, he wouldn’t be so scared, but it’s as if the world is laughing at him with all three of these previous impossibilities.

_Hey, you’re already freaked out at moving someplace new and leaving the gang you’ve led for the past two years behind, how about we add in a baby and some pining for said baby’s mother, who just happens to be the girl whose pigtails you tugged in kindergarten and whose name you cursed all throughout high school?_

Jughead lets out a soft sigh. Sometimes he thinks it might just be the feeling of being caught up with Betty in something so big that’s got him this way. Or maybe he enjoyed the sex so much that he just can’t stay away until he gets her out of his system.

Whatever it is, it’s freaking him out.

Betty begins shuffling around in his arms, a soft frown overtaking her features before she blinks her eyes open and looks up at Jughead, and then she’s semi-smiling.

“You know, one day I’ll get used to waking up next to you that I might follow you to New York just for that,” Betty teases, her voice still laden with sleep.

“I always knew you’d never be able to get enough of me,” Jughead retorts playfully. Betty smiles, and his eyes subconsciously drift down to her lips before he looks back at her green eyes. He hasn’t kissed her since the first night he climbed up her window in the late night hours, and he’s been aching to do so.

Unfortunately for him, Betty hasn’t shown any sign of wanting the same thing he does, so he doesn’t act on his urges. If anything, they’re fighting even more now. Just because he _feels_ something for her, doesn’t mean the blonde spitfire has stopped driving him absolutely crazy.

But if he at least gets these small moments of holding her in between their screaming matches, then he’ll take what he can get.

“Sleep well?” Jughead asks, his hand trailing down to Betty’s stomach. A small bump has formed, and more often than not, Jughead is absentmindedly caressing the soft skin with a sort of tenderness Betty never thought she’d see from the Serpent King.

Well, even men who are capable of skinning someone have a heart.

“Yep,” Betty murmurs in assent, refraining from adding _I always sleep better next to you_. “But not enough, so if you want to leave, then do it quietly.”

“Nah, I’d rather stay here. This is way better than trying to stop Pea and Fangs from setting fire to the Ghoulies’ warehouse.”

Betty giggles a bit before a serious expression appears on her face. “What's the news on Penny? I haven’t been to the Whyte Wyrm in a while.”

Two attempts at shooting him and one at kidnapping him, but she doesn’t need to know that. There’s a reason Betty isn’t going to the Serpents’ local hangout. “Nothing yet. They’re probably laying low for now. But you shouldn’t worry about it, Betts. It’s all handled.”

Betty frowns at Jughead. “I know you’re not telling me the truth.”

“No, I –”

“Look, Forsythe, just because I’m pregnant, doesn’t mean you have to treat me like fragile china,” Betty insists a bit scathingly. “I can handle at least _knowing_ whatever the hell the Ghoulies are trying to do to you in my absence.”

“Betty, I told you –”

“Alright, fine.” Betty moves to sit up, moving away from Jughead. She slips out of his hold and walks to the ensuite, leaving Jughead watching her with an irritated look on his face. He sits up, letting the covers fall off his bare chest, and runs a hand through his messy locks.

When Betty comes back into the room, she moves to her closet to begin picking out clothes for the day. Jughead sighs.

“I thought you wanted to sleep a bit longer.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Come on, Betty, please.”

“I’m not tired anymore.”

“Is that my shirt?”

Betty looks down at herself. She’s wearing one of Jughead’s **S** shirts, the same one he gave her when they slept together for the first time, and a pair of panties. “No.”

“That is my shirt.” Jughead stands up and walks over to Betty, who makes sure not to meet his gaze. “I’m trying to protect you.”

“As if me knowing what kind of danger my friends are in is going to put me at risk,” Betty snorts.

“Well, it will keep you from worrying,” Jughead says. “Stress is bad for the baby, remember?”

“ _You’re_ giving me stress,” Betty says, poking Jughead’s chest while her eyes begin brimming with tears. “Every night, I wait for you to climb up my window and whenever you’re more than five minutes late, I start worrying that something happened to you or to anyone else. _That’s_ what’s giving me stress, Jughead. And now you’re even making me cry.”

Jughead worries at his bottom lip for a few moments. “Let’s go back to bed, yeah?”

Betty nods, and the two slip back under the covers. Jughead leans against the headboard, wrapping Betty in the circle of his arms and wiping her tears, while she wraps an arm around his waist. “I won’t leave tonight,” he promises. “I’ll stay with you in this room all day, and I’ll get Toni to bring us takeout from Pop’s.”

“That’s not what I’m asking for, Juggie,” Betty mutters, and the nickname sends a jolt through Jughead’s heart. “What I want is for you to trust me. I keep worrying that Penny will, like, burst through this door and point a gun at you.”

“This isn’t a matter of trust,” Jughead insists softly, his hand ghosting over where the wound in her now-healed shoulder was weeks ago. “I don’t want you to keep thinking bad things, but…” Jughead sighs. “Penny’s restless. She wants me no matter the cost, and I’m starting to think she won’t stop until she’s standing over my dead body.”

Betty’s arm tightens around Jughead’s waist. “I wish you’d never cut off her tattoo, Jug. Now she’s gone crazy with the need for revenge.”

Jughead shakes his head, his eyes meeting Betty’s. “I don’t regret it. Maybe I should, but if I hadn’t done it, then my dad would still be delivering drugs for her, and there’s no way in hell I’d let him go through that again.”

Betty bites her lip, looking lost in thought for a moment. She cups Jughead’s jaw and pulls his face down, softly pressing her lips to his. After a second’s shock, Jughead kisses her back, pulling her closer so that she’s practically on his lap.

It’s short, and Betty pulls away first. Jughead gazes at her with both adoration and confusion. “What was that for?”

“You did something severe and ignored its consequences just to make sure your father could be happy,” Betty says, tearing up again and cursing her hormones in her head. “You are going to be the greatest father on this earth, Jughead.”

* * *

 

Hours later, Alice opens the door to Betty’s room, poking her head in and calling out, “Lunch is ready, Betty!” When she catches sight of another body in her daughter’s bed, she rolls her eyes. “And I guess Jughead can come, too.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Cooper,” Jughead says, at the same time Betty says, “No, he can go get himself a burger at Pop’s.”

“Seriously, Betty, is that the way to treat a guy who climbs up a ladder for you every night?” Alice says. “Also, Jughead, you do know we have a front door, right?”

“I do, but sneaking in through the window makes me live my childhood dream of being Batman,” Jughead replies.

Betty scoffs. “We’ll be down in a minute.”

“Just enough time to get dressed and have a quick make-out session,” Alice mutters under her breath.

“Not even if pigs fly!” Betty calls out after her retreating mother, even though the door is closed.

“Really, Elizabeth?” Jughead teases. “You wound me.”

“Shut up,” Betty grumbles. She doesn’t want to leave Jughead’s warm embrace, but she pushes the covers off their bodies and climbs out of the bed. She finds Jughead’s discarded shirt and pants on the floor and throws them to him. “You should consider bringing pajamas with you. It’s kind of annoying to see you in your boxers every morning.”

“I don’t have any pajamas to bring with me.”

“Why not?”

“I sleep naked, Cooper,” Jughead says, a grin on his face. “I’m keeping my boxers on only out of respect for you.”

“Disgusting.”

“You’re one to talk, you sleep in my shirt on a good day!” Jughead retorts, pulling his pants on and buttoning them up. “And that’s when you feel it’s too cold to sleep in just your panties.”

“You’re the one climbing into my bedroom window to sleep next to me in my bed, at least let me wear what I want.”

“Trust me, I’m not complaining,” Jughead teases, adding a wink.

Betty bites back the smile threatening to overtake her features. “Shut up and get dressed, I’m starving.”

* * *

 

After lunch with Alice and FP, Betty and Jughead spend the rest of their time in Betty’s room, specifically in bed, bickering and watching Netflix. When they’re at the sixth episode of Supernatural, Jughead’s phone begins ringing with Toni’s name flashing on the screen.

“Maybe you should go,” Betty remarks softly, trying to keep her face from showing her disappointment.

Jughead makes a face at her before answering the call. “Hello?”

“Jughead, where is Betty?” Toni demands, her voice bordering on hysteric.

Jughead sits up straighter, signaling at Betty to lower the volume. Betty pauses the show, turning to Jughead. “She’s with me. What’s going on?”

“Oh, God.” Toni lets out a sigh of relief. “Penny was here. She knows Betty’s pregnant. She wants the bar or she’s gonna hurt her and the baby.”

“Not gonna happen,” Jughead snarls. “You can tell her to go back to Greendale or wherever the hell we drove her to last time she tried doing some shady shit.”

“Jug, stay with Betty tonight,” Toni warns him. “I know Penny’s always full of shit, but she seemed serious this time.”

“I’ve got her,” Jughead insists. “Hey, put Pea or Fangs on the line; whichever is closest.”

“What do you need?” Fangs asks on the other end of the phone.

“Is Sweat Pea with you?”

“He’s nursing the hangover from hell, chose to stay home tonight,” Fangs replies. “Look, Jug, I know you’re worried about Betty, but you can’t give her the Wyrm.”

“Over my dead body,” Jughead says. Betty reaches for his hand and laces their fingers together, eyeing him with confusion and apprehension. “I want you to get Sweet Pea, and I want you two to find Malachai. Shake him down. I want to know what their future plans are and how they found out about the pregnancy. Also, ”

“On it. Take care. Stay with your girl.”

Jughead nods. “Always.”

He ends the call and puts the phone back on the nightstand. Betty looks at him with a small frown. “Juggie, what’s going on?”

Jughead hesitates on telling her. “Maybe –”

“If you give me the same bullshit excuses you give me this morning, I will kick you out of my room and I won’t let you back in until you tell me,” Betty threatens. “I know it has to do with me.”

Jughead sighs. “Penny knows that you’re pregnant. She just left the Whyte Wyrm after threatening you and the baby.”

Betty looks down at her and Jughead’s intertwined hands. “Our parents are downstairs. The door is locked. You’re here with me.” She looks up to meet his worry-filled eyes. “I’m safe. I know I am.”

Jughead smiles uneasily. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“One month ago, you were all for strapping me to a train track.” Betty laughs lightly.

Jughead stares intently at Betty. “Maybe. But things are different now. And right now, even anyone harms a hair on your head, I will make sure they rot six feet under.”

Betty doesn’t say anything. Just like earlier in the morning, she leans up and kisses him.


	10. Chapter 10

“I figured it out,” Jughead announces, climbing into Betty’s room with a bag slung over his shoulder.

Betty pauses the movie she’s watching and turns to give her attention to Jughead, who dumps his bag on Betty’s bed. “Figured what – Jug, what happened to your face?”

Jughead shrugs, as though his blue and purple cheekbone is no big deal. “You should see the other guy,” he retorts cheekily. “It was just a run-in with some Ghoulie who thought he could be the one to catch me.”

“Penny’s sending Ghoulies to do her dirty work for her now?” Betty asks, climbing off her bed to face Jughead. He winces when she brushes her fingers against his bruise, and she lowers her hand. “Let me get you an ice pack.”

Betty ignores Jughead’s protests and walks out of her room, jogging down the stairs and heading to the kitchen. After grabbing the icepack from the freezer, she heads back to her room, passing by her mother in FP’s embrace on the couch. Betty imagines this is what she and Jughead will look like in thirty years, and then she shakes the thought out of her head.

There won’t be a her and Jughead in the future, maybe except for being amicable co-parents for their child. Well, as amicable as possible.

Betty finds Jughead laying on her bed in just his boxers, his eyes closed with an arm thrown over his face. He might have played it down when he first got here, but Betty can see the exhaustion rolling off him in waves.

She climbs into bed next to him, sitting cross-legged. She moves his arm away from his face to gently press the icepack to his cheek, watching his sleeping features before he slowly flutters his eyes open.

“Thanks, Betts,” he mumbles, squeezing the hand that’s on his face.

Betty smiles uneasily, her stomach doing backflips. His blue eyes are gazing at her with a tenderness she’s never seen before, so she clears her throat and says, “You said you figured something out.”

“Right,” Jughead says. He sits up, taking over for Betty by holding the ice against his bruised face. “For college.”

Betty’s stomach drops. “Jug –”

“Listen to me before you jump to conclusion, Betty,” he says, a hint of amusement in his tone.

“Alright.” Betty lets out a heavy exhale. “Let me hear it.”

Jughead reaches for his bag on the foot of the bed and pulls his laptop out. He types a bit on the device before the webpage in front of him pulls up, and he turns the laptop to Betty.

“It’s a two-bedroom apartment,” Jughead explains while Betty’s eyes scan the screen. “It’s only a few blocks away from NYU, and we can cover the rent. I might have to pick up a job to pay for the baby’s expenses, but it’s pretty much a perfect deal, don’t you think?”

Betty slowly looks up to Jughead. He’s flustered and nervous, a hand anxiously rubbing at the back of his neck. His beanie is discarded and his black locks are deliciously mussed, and Betty wants to run her hands through them.

“Are you asking me to move to New York with you?”

“Maybe – yes,” Jughead says, meeting her eyes with desperation. “Betty, you have to understand, I can’t give up a full scholarship. It’s the one thing I’ve worked for most of my life, but I can’t leave you here. And maybe after you give birth, you can take your courses, too.”

Betty cups his cheeks leans forward and captures his lips with hers, the laptop long forgotten. Jughead eagerly kisses her back, running a hand through her soft blonde waves. He gently bites on her lower lip, eliciting a whine from her.

“Yeah, Juggie,” Betty murmurs softly after they break apart to breathe heavily against each other’s lips, a smile growing on her cheeks. “Yeah, let’s go to New York.”

Jughead snakes a hand over her stomach. Her bump is noticeable now, enough for people to start looking at her twice when they pass her on the streets. No one says anything, though, not unless they want to deal with the Serpents and a very sassy Veronica Lodge.

“I can’t wait to start a family with you, Betty Cooper,” Jughead blurts out. He worries he’s said too much and starts thinking of ways he can take his words back, but Betty only smiles and kisses him again.

* * *

 

“I’m throwing you a baby shower before I go to college,” Veronica announces at Pop’s.

Betty rolls her eyes next to Veronica. “Seriously, who are you going to invite?”

“Hello, are we not enough?” Cheryl demands, gesturing to herself and Toni in the booth opposite them. “You can invite the girls from high school.”

“And the other girls that are in the Serpents,” Toni adds.

“A baby shower doesn’t have to be just girls, you know,” Veronica points out. “Sweet Pea and Fangs can come as long as they wear proper attire. Meaning no leather jackets and combat boots.”

“That’s kind of impossible,” Betty says.

“You’re seriously underestimating my persuasion skills,” Cheryl says. “And if that fails, which I doubt, then there’s nothing wrong with a bit of violence.”

Betty opens her mouth to argue, but Veronica beats her to it. “I threw your sister a baby shower and I barely knew you for a few months, much less her. You’re delusional if you think my best friend gives birth without having a baby shower beforehand.”

“Remind me to never let you know when I get proposed to,” Betty jokes. “You’ll probably plan a wedding to rival the royal wedding.”

“Betty, we just want a little excuse to celebrate you,” Cheryl insists.

“You sure you don’t just want a reason to show off your newest Chanel dress?” Betty retorts dryly.

“I don’t need an excuse to show off,” Cheryl says.

“Yeah, she can do it in the privacy of our bedroom,” Toni says.

Betty wrinkles her nose. “Gross.”

“Let’s not forget about the night that got you in this mess in the first place,” Toni says.

“Yeah, B, and you still haven’t told us all the sinful details of the night you shared with our very own Holden Caulfield,” Veronica says, her grin widening at Betty’s pink cheeks. “Tell us everything.”

“Is he as good as all the girls at the Whyte Wyrm say he is?” Toni asks, rolling her eyes. “God, the amount of times I’ve heard girls talk about his dick game is appalling. You’d think he’s a damn sex god.”

“Well, you have our dear Elizabeth to divulge us in whether this little piece of information is true or not,” Cheryl says, leaning forward on her elbows. “So, cousin?”

Betty squirms under the three’s inquisitive gaze. “Good dick game, okay? Fuck off.”

“The best you’ve ever had?” Toni asks, a smirk playing on her face.

“No.”

“Alright, now tell us the truth.”

“He was the best I’ve ever had,” Betty sighs, finally giving up, much to her three friends’ delight. “He does this thing with his tongue and this motion with his fingers… It’s such a shame he has to be an asshole.”

“But you said he sleeps in your room every night,” Veronica notes. Betty “You want to tell me you haven’t had any action for two whole months?”

Betty shakes her head dejectedly. “We’ve kissed, and mostly I initiate them. I don’t think he’s particularly interested in me.”

“He has to be to have sex with you the first time,” Cheryl points out. “And to raise a baby with you. Most guys would have just left, especially with college right around the corner.”

“Speaking of college, have you guys decided what you want to do about it?” Toni asks.

“I’m going with him to New York,” Betty reveals, receiving an excited squeal from Veronica. “We found this amazing apartment and it’s close to NYU, it’s practically perfect.”

Toni cocks an eyebrow. “You guys are moving in together.”

Betty hadn’t looked at it from that angle. “You can say that.”

Toni scoffs, but she’s smiling. “Betty, are you sure you’re not falling for Jug?”

Betty looks shocked at the very idea. “Definitely not. He’s just a good kisser with a nice face.”

Cheryl snorts openly. “I see how you look at him. It’s like he hung the stars in the sky. He looks at you the same way, too.”

“Jughead doesn’t look at me except if it’s to glare at me,” Betty insists. _Or to smile dopily at me like he did two days ago_ , she adds silently.

“Whatever,” Veronica says, rolling her eyes. “Keep telling yourself that, B. Do you think we can know by now if it’s a boy or a girl?”

* * *

 

The bar is empty, except for three dark-haired men in black leather jackets with a green snake on the back, and a red-haired man in a Riverdale High gym shirt.

“We’ve got two weeks, Jug,” Sweet Pea says. “Penny has to be gone before you and Betty leave.”

Jughead somberly looks down at the dirty floor. “I know. I keep thinking about it. I can’t sleep or even eat, that’s how bad it’s getting.”

“Didn’t you talk to Malachai about a compromise or something?” Archie asks. Even though he isn’t exactly a Serpent, Archie, by extension due to his tight friendship with Jughead, is de facto on all the missions and he’s privy to all the gang’s secrets.

“Sweet Pea and I went to see him,” Fangs insists. “They found out about the pregnancy because of the doctor, who is actually an undercover Ghoulie.”

“Fucking hell,” Jughead grumbles under his breath.

“He says there’s no compromise,” Fangs continues. “It’s either we give them the Southside and the Serpents or they hurt Jughead and Betty.”

“The next time, I’m going to kill her instead of just cutting off her tattoo.” Jughead sighs heavily. “Just… give me one more night to think about this. I’ll come to you guys tomorrow morning with a plan.”

* * *

 

“Dad, I don’t know what to do.”

FP takes a moment to just look at his son. Sitting hunched on the kitchen table, still in his clothes, his head in his hands. His eyebags have gotten deeper because of the lack of sleep, his skin tinged a yellowish color.

“I can’t let the Ghoulies hurt Betty and the baby,” Jughead continues. “But I can’t give them the Southside and the Serpents. And Penny doesn’t accept negotiations.”

“Jug, I don’t know what to tell you,” FP admits. “I honestly would have just killed her, but you can’t put yourself through the process of taking a life.”

“I know, I know,” Jughead says, running his hands through his hair and tugging at the ends. “If I – do you think if I announce a showdown of Serpents versus Ghoulies, we’d win?”

“That’s what you’re thinking of doing?”

“Honestly, I can’t think of anything that could be a better idea,” Jughead says. “The Ghoulies are prideful enough not to back down if I challenge them about it. I know we have more strength on our side, but we don’t know their numbers. It could be anything between twenty and a hundred Ghoulies.”

FP sits down at the kitchen table facing Jughead. “There are no more than fifty of them, and that’s counting the older ones who can barely walk anymore. And you have fifty well-abled, strong, and young Serpents. You have the upper hand.”

Jughead meets his father’s eyes. He’s sometimes shocked by the steadiness in them, after getting used to FP either passed out on the couch with his eyes either closed or hazy.

“I think the plan might work,” Jughead says. “I should run it by Sweet Pea and Fangs. Make sure it’s foolproof enough.”

FP nods and rises from his seat, clapping his son on the shoulder. “You make a good leader, boy. Better than I ever was.”

Jughead is struck by the emotion in FP’s voice. “Thanks, Dad. Means a lot to me that you say that.”

* * *

 

“Veronica’s throwing me a baby shower on Sunday,” Betty says. She feels Jughead’s chest vibrate with a chuckle.

“Is my attendance expected?”

“Well, yeah. You kind of are the baby daddy.”

Jughead sighs. "Well, I certainly wouldn't want the wrath of Veronica Lodge unleashed upon me." He's absentmindedly caressing Betty's stomach like he usually is when they're lying in bed together. "I'll be there."

"Good." Betty pulls the covers tighter around them, and Jughead notices.

“You cold?” he asks. At Betty’s nod, he pulls her tighter against his chest, not even an inch of space between them anymore. Jughead looks down at Betty to find her already looking up at him.

Their faces are so close, nose-to-nose, that all it takes is one small movement for their lips to meet.

“Betty,” Jughead breathes softly. “Can I kiss you?”

Betty doesn’t give him an answer. Instead, she leans upward, and tenderly presses her lips against his.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one more chapter left!

Jughead arrives at the Pembrooke late. The baby shower’s already started, and guests are already milling the salon of the Lodges’ exquisitely decorated home. Jughead looks around, hoping to catch a flare of red or blonde hair, but he’s stopped short by none of other than Hiram Lodge.

“I believe congratulations are in order,” the older man says.

Jughead eyes him warily, not having forgotten the near-death experience he received years ago, courtesy of the very man standing in front of him. “I guess they probably are.”

“Betty Cooper is a sweet girl,” Hiram says. “You’re lucky to have her as the mother of your child.”

“Yeah, I am,” Jughead says. “Speaking of, I need to go find her. Excuse me.”

 _That was weird,_ Jughead thinks. He finally finds Archie – with Veronica in his lap – and makes a beeline towards them.

“The baby daddy has finally shown up!” Veronica exclaims, getting off of Archie. “I thought you’d decided to skip.”

“I love how you always think the best of me,” he says dryly. “Where’s Betty?”

Veronica points to the girl in question, standing with Cheryl and a few girls who used to be with them on the cheer team, conversing with an easygoing smile on her face, her hand resting over her slightly rounded belly.

Jughead nods and makes his way over to her, not before leaning down to hiss a few words in Archie’s ear. “Showdown tonight.”

He doesn’t wait to see Archie’s reaction, his only focus being Betty, who’s wearing a flowy light pink dress, her blonde hair pulled back in a half-up-half-down style like the one she had during Polly’s baby shower (which he was forced to attend by Veronica).

“Hey,” he says once he reaches the girls. He squeezes Cheryl’s arm affectionately and nods at the others.

“Hi, Jug,” Betty says. Jughead resists the urge to kiss her in front of the other girls. Instead, he settles for grinning at her and wrapping an arm around her waist. Two of the girls share a look and stifle giggles, making Cheryl roll her eyes.

“You wouldn’t mind if I stole her away, would you?”

Jughead doesn’t wait for the girls’ answer – he’s sure he can hear Cheryl scoff, though – and pulls Betty into a corner. He thinks he can see Sweat Pea and Fangs drinking whiskey from a bottle, but he ignores it. That’s Veronica’s problem to deal with.

“You’re late,” Betty accuses.

Jughead rolls his eyes and pulls Betty closer to him so that they’re chest to chest. He leans down to peck her lightly on the lips, and Betty raises her eyebrows. “We’re in public.”

“I know.”

“You just kissed me.”

“You call that a kiss?”

“What’s going on with you, Jug?” Betty asks suspiciously. “You seem more… touchy. Like you can’t get enough of me.”

“I can never get enough of you, Elizabeth Cooper.”

“Jug…”

“Look, Betts…” Jughead sighs. His chest tightens when his gaze meets Betty’s. Her green eyes are shining with uncertainty and something else. Something that looks like hope. “I hated you for… for a long time. You drove me absolutely nuts and you still do. You’re annoying, irritating, kind of a know-it-all –”

“Are you just here to tell me all of my bad qualities?” Betty interrupts.

“Let me finish,” Jughead chuckles. “But you’re also selfless. You’re smart. You’re loving, and you care about everyone around you. You’re brave and courageous and a badass. You’re beautiful, you have the prettiest smile. What I’m saying is… Betty, I feel _something_ for you. And I think I’ve been feeling like this since we were still in school. When you first put on the Serpent jacket, I felt something. In the back of my head, I knew I was gone for.”

“Why are you telling me this right now?” Betty asks after a few moments of silence.

“I-I don’t know. I just saw you standing here, and my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest, and I needed to tell you.”

_Because I’m doing something reckless and stupid that might get me killed. If I die, I want you to know I’m in love with you._

“Betty, can you say something, please?” Jughead asks softly. His hands might be shaking, and his heart might be racing –

Her lips are soft against his. Softer than they’ve ever been. Her body is pressed against his, her hands buried in his hair before they move down to his shirt collar, while he holds her tightly by the waist.

“Juggie,” she moans lowly. “Take me home.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“Veronica will kill me. And you.”

“I don’t care. I really, really need you right now.”

Jughead stifles a groan. “Don’t have to tell me twice.”

They leave through the front door. No one notices except Toni, who raises a brow at Jughead. He doesn’t give her the pleasure of an answer, as he and Betty get into her car – the bike isn’t comfortable for her anymore, so he decides to just come back and pick it up tomorrow. If he survives, that is.

The Cooper house is empty. Betty drags Jughead up to her room, their lips interlocked, and they fall on the bed with him on top, being careful not to put his weight on her so he doesn’t hurt her.

“I want you,” Betty breathes against his lips. “All of you. Tonight.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”

He proceeds to slip her dress off her body.

When it’s 11:30, Jughead’s phone begins ringing. He groggily sits up and grabs the device. The contact name reads Sweet Pea, and Jughead remembers what’s supposed to happen. He declines the call and gets up from the bed, which rouses Betty, who’d been sleeping in the circle of his arms.

“Jug?” she mumbles.

“Go back to sleep, baby,” Jughead whispers, leaning in to press a kiss on her forehead. Betty doesn’t listen to him, choosing to watch him get dressed in all-black clothes that were in the duffel bag he’d stashed in her room ages ago.

He pulls on his combat boots and turns to Betty, just as the doorbell rings downstairs. Betty gets out of bed and moves to grip Jughead’s arm.

“What’s going on?”

He doesn’t answer. Instead, he pulls her into the hardest, most bruising kiss she’s ever experienced, his hands gripping her jaw. “I love you,” he breathes against her lips when he pulls away. “I love you forever.”

“Jug –”

“And I love this baby.” He kneels down to press a kiss against her stomach, whispering a few words to it before standing again. “Don’t forget that, Betts.”

“Forsythe, you’re scaring me,” Betty insists, tearing up, tightly gripping Jughead’s arm. “What’s going on?”

The doorbell rings again. Jughead sighs. “That’s Cheryl and Toni. You’ll understand soon enough. I love you.”

He kisses her one last time and walks out her bedroom door, leaving her behind with a heavy heart. He opens the front door to Cheryl and Toni, both of them dressed in Serpent gear, Cheryl with her bow strapped to her back.

“Where’s your jacket?” Cheryl asks.

“I told Sweet Pea to get it for me,” Jughead replies. “I need to borrow your bike.”

Toni gives him the keys before she wraps him in a hug. “Go get them and then come back, yeah?”

“Of course.” Jughead pulls away to also hug Cheryl. If you’d told him two years back that he’d not only accept the two girls back into the Serpents but also love them like sisters (especially the red-haired spawn of Satan), he’d have laughed.

“We’ll take care of Betty,” Cheryl assures him. “No matter what.”

“I know.”

The door closes behind him when he walks out with a small but definite thump. Jughead climbs on Toni’s bike and looks up at the Cooper house one last time.

“I’ll come back for you, Betts,” he mutters, before racing off.

“What’s going on?” Betty demands. Cheryl and Toni turn around. Betty’s wearing one of Jughead’s **S** shirts and a pair of cotton shorts. “Why are you two here in the middle of the night, and why did Jughead just say goodbye to me like he’s going off to get slaughtered?”

Cheryl and Toni exchange a meaningful look, and a cold feeling goes through Betty. “That’s exactly what he’s going to do, isn’t it? There’s something going on with the Ghoulies.”

“Betty, no –”

But Betty’s already dashing up the stairs. The two girls are quick to follow her, but by the time they reach her, Betty’s in her ensuite bathroom, the door locked behind her. She emerges minutes later in the same shirt, tucked into black jeans that are ripped at the knees.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Betty?” Cheryl demands, grabbing Betty’s arm in a vice-like grip.

“What I’m doing,” Betty says, wrenching her arm from Cheryl’s grasp to grab her black Serpent jacket and pull it on, “is going after the man I love before he participates in a goddamn suicide mission.”

“He’s the one who proposed the showdown, and it was for you, Betty,” Toni says. “We can’t do anything.” At Betty’s expression, Toni’s eyes widen. “He didn’t tell you anything, did he?”

Jughead’s heart pounds the way it did during his sophomore year on Riot Night before he walked in a circle of Ghoulies who beat the crap out of him. Flashes of that night come back to him, and he almost calls the whole thing off.

“You’re not alone,” Archie says, placing a hand on Jughead’s shoulder and snapping him out of his reverie.

“You didn’t have to come, you know,” Jughead insists. “You can still go home.”

“Nah.” Archie shakes his head. “I may not be a Serpent, but you and I are brothers, Jug. Where you go, I go.”

“Nice bro-fest, but we kind of have to get a move on things,” Sweet Pea says, patting both men on the back. “Come on.”

Jughead steps up to the front of the Serpents, facing Penny and Malachai, who lead the Ghoulies.

“This should be fun,” Penny comments, twirling a knife in her hands, a smirk on her face.

“One hour,” Jughead says loudly, his voice carrying in the dead of the night. “We win, you take your little gang and leave the state.”

“And if we win,” Malachai says, approaching Jughead, “we get to have that pretty girl of yours. I’ve always had a thing for blondes, you know, and she’s got lips that I’d like to see wrapped around my cock –”

Jughead throws the first punch.

Betty drives to Pickens Park blindly, with Cheryl sitting in the passenger seat and Toni in the back, both trying to convince her to turn back around and just head home.

“They’ve got it handled,” Toni insists. “If we show up, Penny’s gonna set her sights on you and the baby, and she could hurt you.”

Betty shakes her head. “I need to get to Jughead.”

Cheryl sighs and runs her hand through her red mane. “Your funeral, Betty Cooper.”

When Betty reaches the park, she jumps out of the car without killing the ignition, leaving Cheryl and Toni to scramble after her. As soon as Betty reaches the mass of members from the two gangs, she stops to assess the scene in front of her.

She can see Archie, not really a Serpent, easily taking down to Ghoulies. She can see Sweet Pea and Fangs, fighting a horde of Ghoulies back to back. What she can’t see is Jughead. Nor Penny and Malachai, for the matter.

And then Betty sees him. Jughead, throwing punches and evading them, with Malachai in front of him. Betty reflexively yells his name, and Jughead’s eyes meet her, wide with fear – no, terror.

“BETTY!” he yells, and then he’s running from Malachai and towards her, but it’s too late. It’s too late because Penny has already gotten to her, and the woman has already driven her sharp blade right in the middle of Betty’s stomach.


	12. Chapter 12

“It’s been four days.”

“That’s nice.”

“Jug, you haven’t left her bedside ever since she got here.”

“I want to be here when she wakes up.”

“ _If_ she wakes up.”

“Why’re you here, Toni? Just go. It’s getting dark out.”

Footsteps. A door opens and closes. A sigh.

“Come back to me, baby. Come back to me.”

Betty can’t open her eyes. All she can hear is a constant beeping. And yelling. So much yelling.

“You swore to me that this would never happen again! You _swore_ –”

“Alice, maybe we should just go –”

“No, FP, he should know that this is his fault!”

“You know she’s right, Dad.”

Betty wants to talk. To tell them to stop yelling. They’re giving her a headache. She’s fine. She just can’t make a single sound or move a muscle.

“Leave.”

“No.”

“You heard me, Forsythe. Don’t make me say it again.”

“I’m not leaving until she wakes up. When _she_ tells me to leave, then I’ll turn my back on her and you’ll never have to see me for the rest of our miserable lives.”

Beeping. Beeping. Betty can’t catch what her mother says in response since she’s drifted into sleep again.

Betty wakes up minutes, hours, maybe days later. She doesn’t know. This time she actually makes a noise, letting out a small whimper.

“B-Betty?” a familiar voice gasps. “Oh, shit, Jug’s gonna be pissed he wasn’t here when you woke up.”

“V?” Betty chokes out, right before she begins coughing uncontrollably.

“You need the nurse,” Veronica says decidedly before getting out of her seat and walking out of the room, calling for someone to come check on Betty.

“Why… why am I here?” Betty asks softly. The nurse in front of her smiles kindly.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. Everything will be just fine.”

Betty is vaguely aware of Veronica, talking on the phone. She tries to force her eyes to stay open, force herself to stay awake, but she can’t, and she falls back asleep.

When Betty wakes up, there’s a hand holding hers. The touch is familiar with calloused fingertips drawing circles on the back of her hand. The stench of cigarettes surrounds her. She’s positive that the person sitting next to her is none other than Jughead.

She slowly blinks her eyes open. Jughead doesn’t notice, his gaze trailed on their joined hands, so Betty takes a few moments to study his appearance. His hair is disheveled, beanie discarded, and there are purple crescents under his red eyes from the lack of sleep. He’s dressed in sweatpants and Betty can see his flannel peeking out under his hoodie. His shoulders are slumped and he’s worrying at his bottom lip with his teeth.

Betty’s throat feels too scratchy for her to talk, so she squeezes Jughead’s hand. His eyes slowly drift to her face and then they widen when he sees that she’s awake.

“Betty,” he says, like her name is a benediction. He stands up, his eyes getting teary – Betty never thought she’d see Jughead _cry_ , ever – and he leans forward, pressing a kiss on her forehead. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”

Betty wants to tell him it isn’t his fault, but all that comes out is a croak. Jughead lets go of her hand to go fetch her a glass of water. He helps her drink slowly, and when she’s done, he sets the glass down softly, holding onto her hand.

“Betty,” he says, “if you want me to leave, then tell me. Tell me you hate me and you never want to see me again, and I’ll walk out that door and you won’t ever hear from me.”

Betty profusely shakes her head. “Please. Don’t. I need you with me, Juggie.”

Jughead’s lips curl upward but he isn’t smiling. “This is the second time you’re in here because of me.”

“And you’ve protected me so many times more.” Betty reaches upward to stroke Jughead’s cheek. “I’m okay. I love you.” Betty inhales sharply. “Penny stabbed me in… I mean, is…”

Jughead runs a hand through his hair. “I’m-I’m sorry, Betts. The doctors tried everything, but it was hard enough bringing you back as it was. You flatlined twice, you know?”

“We lost our baby,” Betty whispers. She isn’t talking to Jughead, rather to herself. “I lost –”

“Hey, hey,” Jughead coos, softly caressing Betty’s hair. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

But Betty shakes her head, her eyes beginning to brim with tears that roll down her cheeks. “I – our baby, Jug, our –”

Jughead whispers sweet nothings to her, trying not to break down himself. He climbs into the small hospital bed next to her, making sure not to disturb any of the wires, and lays her on his chest. He holds her in a tight embrace until they both fall asleep.

That’s how Veronica and Archie find them an hour later.

“Maybe we should leave,” Archie suggests.

Veronica sighs. “I can’t believe Betty has to go through all of that. She loved the baby, you know? And she loved Jughead. Well, she _loves_ him, but I don’t know if their relationship can stand this kind of thing or if they’re going to be a constant reminder to each other about a part of them they lost. All because of Penny.”

“I’m so glad they’re arrested,” Archie says, referring to Penny, Malachai, and their gang of Ghoulies. “But Betty and Jughead are going to make it. They’ve loved each other for so long, no matter how much they deny it. They’re my best friends. I know them better than they know themselves, and I always knew a day would come where they’ll come to their senses and realize they’re each other’s perfect match.”

Veronica still looks doubtful, so Archie adds, “They’ll make it through, Ronnie. Trust me on this.”

“I hope you’re right, Archie.”

Betty and Alice get into a huge fight after Betty’s release from the hospital. As usual, it’s about Betty’s life choices, though this time it involves more than just a criminal gang the younger Cooper runs around with in the dead of the night.

“I’m going to New York in less than a month, Mom, and I’m eighteen,” Betty insists. “You can’t keep controlling me.”

“Can’t you see that I’m trying to do what’s best for you? I want you to be safe,” Alice says.

“Penny’s gone,” Betty reminds her mother with a tone of finality. “She’s in a high-security prison and so is her gang of junkies and addicts. I’m safe. And honestly, Mom, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’m going to Pop’s to meet with the girls.”

Betty sits in a booth next to Veronica with Cheryl and Toni on the other side, four milkshakes and a dish of chili fries placed in front of the girls.

“We’re glad you’re here, B,” Toni says, gently squeezing Betty’s hand before she takes a sip of her milkshake.

“Thanks, Toni.”

“Why is the mood so drab?” Cheryl demands. “Our little Betty is perfectly healthy and she’s going to New York to do something she’s always wanted to do. And if that’s not enough, she has a beau that isn’t exactly a walking pile of trash like most of her exes.”

“I don’t have a beau,” Betty says, puzzled.

“Not yet you don’t,” Veronica mutters with a secretive smile, just as the diner bell rings, announcing a person walking into the establishment. Betty immediately raises her eyes to meet Jughead’s.

She hasn’t seen him since the night at the hospital, but he looks better. Healthier, like he’s actually slept through the night and he actually ate and drank something that isn’t coffee.

“I’ve to go,” Betty says, sliding out of the booth without looking at the girls to gouge their smirking reactions. Instead, she’s focused on the leather jacket-clad boy, who’s eyeing her just as intensely as she’s eyeing him.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Wanna go for a ride?”

Betty nods, and Jughead grabs her hand to pull her out of the diner. He leads them to his bike, giving her the spare helmet while he slips the one carved in with a crown over his unruly mop of raven curls, getting onto the bike.

Betty climbs in behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder. He revs the engine and drives off, the neon lights of Pop’s becoming smaller and smaller as they race through the streets of Riverdale.

Betty doesn’t know for how long they ride, but Jughead only stops once he reaches a cliff overlooking to the sunset. He helps Betty off of the bike and straps their helmets to it before he turns to her.

“You feeling better?” Jughead asks softly, brushing a stray lock of hair away from Betty’s face.

“I’m great,” Betty insists. “You? You didn’t look so good when I saw you at the hospital.”

“I’m good, I’m good,” he says. “Listen, Betts. I wanted to talk to you about something that’s really important. And I really don’t know how to say this. I’m writer extraordinaire, and yet I still can’t string a few words together to tell you how I feel.”

Betty squeezes Jughead’s hand. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

Jughead sighs. “Betty, I love you. I love you, and I’ll love you until I die. And if there’s a life after that, I’ll love you then. And I know that what you just went through is the worst thing anyone could experience, and it’s my fault –”

“It isn’t, Jug,” Betty insists. “I wanted to go after you. Cheryl and Toni warned me. They tried to stop me, but I wouldn’t listen. All I could think about was you. I was terrified that you’d be hurt, that something would happen to you. And stupidly enough, I was thinking about how I didn’t tell you I love you before you left. It’s my fault.”

Jughead shakes his head. “I should’ve told you what was going on instead of just leaving you in the dark. I thought I was protecting you, but I realize I was wrong, and if I want you to be Serpent Queen, then I’ll have to quit thinking like that.”

“You… You want me to be Serpent Queen?” Betty asks quietly.

“Well, yeah.” Jughead cracks a small smile. “I love you, Betts. And I know it’s selfish of me to ask you this, but will you be my girlfriend? Will you be mine?”

Betty is silent for so long that Jughead worries she doesn’t like his proposition and is going to throw him off the cliff. But suddenly she pulls him down by his Serpents jacket and kisses him so sweetly that Jughead almost melts.

“Yes,” she breathes when they break apart.

Jughead breaks out into a grin. “New York?”

“We did pay the rent for the first three months,” Betty muses. “And honestly, I’d like to see what exactly we can do without my mother coming into check on us every five minutes.”

Jughead kisses her again, and he can almost see his future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was the last chapter! thank you all so much for all of your love & kind comments! i loved exploring this side of betty and jug even though it was unedited, mostly written in the dead of the night, and extremely ooc lmao. thank you <3


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